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PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have a spot where they normally watch games together at Citizens Bank Park when neither is pitching. It’s a strategic location — atop the steps that lead to the tunnel, so the air conditioning from below hits their backs on a warm spring night like Tuesday — that offers a good view of the batter’s box and mound. They are right behind the manager.
They are two of the best pitchers in the game, two righties who signed contracts worth a combined $298 million this past offseason. They study pitching. Both advocate for a simpler time — when starters were expected to pitch at least seven innings every night.
They were standing there, like everyone else packed inside the ballpark on a Tuesday night in late May, marveling at Ranger Suárez in another Phillies win. What was the conversation like?
“This dude don’t ever give up anything,” Nola said as the best-in-baseball Phillies moved to 35-14. “That’s kind of what it is. It’s been fun to watch. You don’t see this often.”
Suárez was, at best, supposed to be the third man after a strong duo atop the Phillies rotation. People around the club were encouraged when Suárez had a full spring training. They predicted a strong season. They did not envision this.
“Y’all see it, man,” Nola said. “Y’all see it.”
Suárez has a 1.36 ERA in 66 innings. He is 9-0. He struck out Texas Rangers outfielder Leody Taveras on a front-hip sinker with his 108th pitch of the night. As he wiped the sweat from his forehead, he noticed everyone standing for him. Suárez tipped his hat to the crowd. After his seven innings of one-run ball, he said he did not know why he gestured to the fans.
Coolest Ranger we know pic.twitter.com/Hv9nxyR8fR
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 22, 2024
Everyone could feel it. If this is what the summer will be like in South Philadelphia, they will talk about it for decades.
“Just a lot of fun, man,” Bryce Harper said after the 5-2 win. “That’s what we signed up for.”
Suárez is the first Phillies pitcher since Robin Roberts in 1952 to win at least nine consecutive starts. His ERA is the third-lowest by a Phillies pitcher in the first 10 starts of his season since earned runs became an official stat in the National League. Only Grover Alexander had better starts to a Phillies season — and those happened in 1915 and 1916.
He is the first pitcher since Juan Marcial in 1966 to go 9-0 or better with a sub-1.50 ERA in his first 10 starts.
“What he’s doing, I’ve never seen it before, especially on the same team,” Nola said. “The way he commands all his pitches to both sides of the plate. He always has an out when guys are on base. He always has a pitch.”
Everyone has exhausted ways to describe Suárez’s calm dominance. But Nola and Wheeler have a different perspective on it. They can appreciate how clinical Suárez is. He struck out 10 batters Tuesday and registered strikeouts on five different types of pitches — four sinkers, two four-seam fastballs, two changeups, one curveball and one slider.
“So,” Nola said, “he’s got five strikeout pitches. When he’s getting 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 — which he has a lot this year — that makes the difference. He’s not walking guys. You can’t sit on anything. You can’t sit on a location. You can’t sit on a pitch because he’s got all those pitches for strikeouts.”
He’s pitching.
“The separation between his fastball and his changeup and curveball is pretty big,” Nola said. “So that’s why you see guys take his fastball and see guys super early on his changeup. Super early on his curveball. The separation is not small; they can’t get fooled and still hit it decent. They’re too out in front. They either miss it or hit a weak groundball.”
Sometimes, Nola will turn to Wheeler and predict what Suárez does next. On Tuesday, a Rangers hitter was early on a changeup. Nola thought Suárez would come back with a curveball. The hitter didn’t chase.
Suárez finished him with a sinker.
“He’s 9-0, that’s why,” Nola said. “It’s different if he’d be getting behind the count.”
Then, Nola paused. He rethought that.
“But even when he is getting behind the count, he’s never out of the count,” Nola said. “He doesn’t have to be perfect with his pitches when he is behind in the count. Say his stuff isn’t where it is during the game. Like, maybe he only has a couple of pitches. He still has the sinker that gets him out of the jam.”
Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have closely watched Ranger Suárez’s dominating start. (Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)
Suárez rarely faces lefty hitters because opponents know what a disadvantage it is. (Only 19 percent of the batters he had faced before Tuesday were lefties.) But Texas had three in its lineup. They went 1-for-9 with five strikeouts. One of the lefties, Nathaniel Lowe, smacked a single to center to begin the seventh. He was erased a batter later when Josh Smith, another lefty, bounced into a 4-6-3 double play.
“If you have a few lefties in the lineup, I feel like people know what he’s going to do,” Nola said. “He’s going to sink you in. But he’s got enough sink and they just hit a groundball. You saw it. So, it’s like … I don’t know. It’s impressive to me. It’s fun to watch.”
It is a style that feels sustainable for six months. Suárez is in better shape and he is repeating his delivery more often. That means better command. Obviously, he won’t have a 1.36 ERA the whole season.
Nola smiled.
“He might,” Nola said. “He might. He definitely has a chance, in my opinion. I just think if he keeps throwing strikes with the quality pitches that he’s throwing, he’s going to have a heck of a year. Something that doesn’t happen often. If he stays healthy, he’s going to throw a lot of innings. He’s going to do something pretty cool.”
(Top photo of Ranger Suárez: Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
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