Bryson Stott hit a home run into the right-field upper deck, and Kody Clemens drove in two runs as the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Miami Marlins 5-2 on Thursday night, stretching their winning streak to five games.
In the first game of a four-game series, the Phillies (84-56) built an eight-game lead in the NL East with 22 games remaining.
Ranger Suárez (12-6) gave up three hits over five scoreless innings, leaving the game after 82 pitches. The left-hander walked two batters and struck out four, bouncing back from a tough previous outing where he allowed four runs and five hits in four innings against Atlanta.
“That is why I work the four days before I take the mound again,” Suárez said. “I forget the bad outings and create something new to be better the next time.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson mentioned that Suárez was on a 90-pitch limit and he didn’t want him to start the sixth inning to face another batter.
“I felt he was good right there,” Thomson said. “Probably go to 95 or 100 next time out. He did his job.”
Bryce Harper went 0 for 3 with a walk, a day after being hit on the left elbow by a pitch in Toronto and leaving the game in the third inning. Matt Strahm pitched a perfect ninth inning for his third save.
The game had an attendance of just 9,355, following a season-low crowd of 6,156 the previous day for a walk-off win against Washington.
Miami fell to 10-40 in games against left-handed pitchers.
“He’s tough to figure out because he doesn’t fall into any patterns,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said about Suárez. “The velo doesn’t matter if you throw it where you want it, and he was throwing every pitch where he wanted tonight.
So there was a lot of weak contact, unfortunately. Just couldn’t get anything going.”
