You don’t really appreciate what you have until it’s gone. I used to get to recap Ranger Suárez starts all the time. Now I get to do that once a season at most. Unless I defect to Over the Monster, which is unlikely, on account of me growing up in a Yankees fan family, and still retaining some lingering fondness for the pinstriped rich kids. Anyway.
The Phillies wasted no time in trying to make their old friend sweat , with Trea Turner grounding to the hot corner, then seemingly beating out a great
spinning throw from Caleb Durbin. But the call was overturned on review. Suarez, too, showed no mercy, striking Kyle Schwarber out with a low curveball, and inducing a lineout from Bryce Harper. And then he got the next six out too, half of them coming on strikeouts. He made J.T. Realmuto look foolish by inducing a swing on a low curve for strike three ; Realmuto realized it wasn’t his pitch and tried to hold off, but broke the plane. Baseball is a cruel thing, pitting former batterymates against each other.
Ranger’s counterpart in today’s proceedings, Jesús Luzardo, blinked first. He allowed a double to Carlos Narváez in the bottom third on a softly hit ball that dropped in front of a sliding Felix Reyes, then scooted behind him as he missed it. A sacrifice bunt advanced Narváez to second. But the next two Bosox bowed before the Lizard King, and the score remained tied.
The Phillies finally got a baserunner against Ranger when Harper worked a walk on seven pitches, but couldn’t advance him. The Boston nine did a little more at the plate, but remained similarly stymied in the scoring section. Wilyer Abreu singled in the bottom fourth, but was picked off— which proved costly for the Beantowners when Willson Contreras doubled in the next at-bat.
The Phillies got themselves their first hit at the hands of Alec Bohm in the fifth, who smacked a cutter into the left-side gap. Realmuto joined him with a single to the right side. Reyes imitated Realmuto, and the Phillies had the bases loaded. But Suarez, characteristically, was not particularly fazed. He made Edmundo Sosa whiff for a forwards K, then got Turner to pass on a cutter at the bottom of the zone for a backwards one. The fifth inning came to naught for the visitors.
The same was true for the Sox, who put a pair on via HPB and walk, but couldn’t bring either of them as far as third. The game thus entered the sixth at an even score, brought about by evenly-matched pitcher and evenly-frustrated batters.
But frustration can come for pitchers, too. Bryce Harper hit a seeing-eye single that slipped perfectly past a pair of diving Sox, and Suarez was sent to the showers, despite his overall strong performance. With two righties up next, right-handed reliever Justin Slaten was his replacement. Adolis García struck out, but Bohm singled to put runners on the corners. That brought up Brandon Marsh, who hit a liner to center that looked to all the world like it might drop— all the world, that is, except for Ceddanne Rafaela, who chased it down and sent the frame to bed.
The Red Sox threatened again in the bottom of the sixth when Reyes misplayed a ball from Andruw Monasterio off the Green Monster, trying to grab it with his free hand, then bobbling it. Monasterio ended up on second with none away. But the Phillies would once again mirror their Junior Circuit counterpart, with Luzardo inducing a trio of ground balls to keep the Sox scoreless.
Brad Keller took over for Luzardo in the bottom seventh, with Bryson Stott (who had pinch-hit for Reyes in the top, popping out), taking over at second base. For the second straight inning, the Sox put a man on second with a double, then failed to bring him home. This time, though, the double came with two outs, making the subsequent fizzling of the opportunity significantly less painful.
In the end, it wasn’t a former Phillie-turned-Red Sock that decided this game. It was a former Red Sock-turned-Phillie. Trea Turner singled to lead off the eighth, and Kyle Schwarber then smacked a pitch over the bullpen in Fenway’s right field to score the game’s first runs. That bullpen belongs to the visitors, and the gopher ball was visibly appreciated by the Phillies relief crew, necks craned upwards as if they were watching a meteor shower. The Red Sox got the next two Phillies out, but put the next three on via single, error, and HBP. That brought up Bryson Stott, who grounded to third. Durbin moved to throw to second, but the base was sockless. He instead threw to first, where Stott was called out; the Phillies challenged. The review proved that Stott had made it to base safely, and the Phillies had a 3-0 lead. Justin Crawford was called in to pinch hit for Edmundo Sosa, grounded out, and the frame was concluded, with the game taking a decidedly Philadelphian tilt.
José Alvarado took the eighth. The Sox hitters, awoken from their slumber by the reverberations of the Schwarber homer, plated their first of the game thanks to a double from Monasterio and a single from Abreu. Alvarado hit Rafaela, putting two on with two away, but made Trevor Story whiff to end the inning.
The Phillies went quietly in the ninth, then asked Jhoan Duran to ensure the Red Sox did the same. He struck out Mickey Gasper, walked Masataka Yoshida (pinch-hitting for Durbin), struck out Marcelo Mayer, then struck out Jarren Duran. The Phillies won, and old friend Ranger pitched well. Everyone goes home happy.
Well, not Red Sox fans. But everyone else.
The Phillies are 21-23. They return to action tomorrow night for a cross-state clash in Pittsburgh.
