The forecast for Thursday evening in New England was not looking good. Rain sought to delay what was set to be a reunion between the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox pitcher Ranger Suárez. After a short delay to the start of the game, however, the Phillies and Red Sox took to the field to determine who would be the victor of their only regular season series this year.
Jesús Luzardo was in need of a sold outing as he toed the rubber against Suárez. Having allowed only one hit in the first three frames, Luzardo allowed a one-out single to Wilyer Abreu in the bottom of the fourth.
With a 1-1 count to Willson Contreras, Luzardo caught Abreu leaning into his secondary lead at first base, getting him on a successful pickoff for the second out of the inning. On the next pitch, Contreras doubled into left field. With Abreu’s speed, the pickoff likely saved the first run of the day for Luzardo.
Meanwhile, Suárez had four no-hit innings going for his new team. Alec Bohm slipped a leadoff single into left field to end the no-hitter in the top of the fifth. Following a strikeout from Brandon Marsh, J.T. Realmuto and Felix Reyes hit back-to-back singles to load the bases for the Phillies. Suárez, however, just as he was in Philadelphia, remained calm, cool, and collected. He used 10 pitches to strike out both Edmundo Sosa and Trea Turner to get out of harm’s way.
A Bryce Harper single in the sixth inning would prompt interim manager Chad Tracy to go to the bullpen. Súarez concluded his day having pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out eight Phillies batters.
Meanwhile Luzardo finished six full shutout innings before Don Mattingly went to the bullpen. With a similar line of zero runs on four hits and one walk, the main difference between Luzardo and Suárez was in the strikeout department, where Luzardo only recorded four on the day.
The Phillies time in Boston was defined by one thing: low-scoring games. Having split the first two games of the series by 2-1 and 3-1 margins, both the Phillies and Red Sox knew that whoever could break through first might just come out victorious.
Speaking of recent trends, Kyle Schwarber had hit six home runs in his six previous games going into Thursday night. After a first-pitch lead-off single for Turner in the top of the eighth, Schwarber thought it was time for another. Connecting on a 3-1 cutter down the middle, Schwarber hit his 18th home run of the season over the Phillies’ bullpen in right field.
Tacking on one additional run on the inning due to an error, a hit batter, and an infield single caused by no one covering second base, the Phillies claimed a 3-0 advantage.
Back-to-back hits from Andruw Monasterio and Abreu got the Red Sox on the board in their half of the eighth inning against José Alvarado, but it would be too little, too late.
Jhoan Duran struck out three batters while walking one in the bottom of the ninth to earn his seventh save of the season. Brad Keller, who pitched a quiet seventh inning for the Phillies, picked up his second win of the year.
With the victory, the Phillies improved to 21-23 on the year and have yet to lose a series under interim manager Don Mattingly. They will look to continue their success as the return to Pennsylvania for a date out west with the Pirates.
Aaron Nola will face off against Braxton Ashcraft in game one of their weekend series with first pitched scheduled for 6:40 PM Friday night.
