In what perhaps was an expected announcement from Major League Baseball, Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for March/April.
Suarez will look to build on his early-season success when the Phillies continue their four-game series against the visiting San Francisco Giants on Saturday evening.
Philadelphia (22-11) improved to a season-best 11 games over .500 with a 4-3 victory on Friday, while San Francisco lost for the third time in four games.
The Phillies have won seven of their past eight games.
Suarez (5-0, 1.32 ERA) has won his last five outings, including a 5-1 victory over the San Diego Padres last Saturday. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out eight over eight innings.
“Soft contact, stuff was really good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He had it all going. He was getting ahead of hitters and staying ahead of hitters. No walks all night. I thought he had all his pitches going. He’s just having fun playing baseball right now.”
Suarez, 28, has allowed just one run in his last 30 innings and boasts a 40-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio through six starts.
San Francisco outfielder Jorge Soler is 3-for-9 with two home runs against Suarez, who is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in six career games (two starts) vs. the Giants.
Right-hander Keaton Winn (3-3, 3.18 ERA) will take the mound for San Francisco on Saturday. Winn won his third straight start last Sunday, allowing one run over six innings in a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Winn, 26, has given up a total of three runs across 18 innings in his last three outings.
“He just seems more and more comfortable, and at times, he seems pretty dominant,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said.
Winn owns a 28-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio through six starts this season. He will make his first career appearance against Philadelphia.
Winn likely will throw to backup catcher Tom Murphy after Patrick Bailey exited Friday’s game in the first inning. Bailey left due to blurred vision after taking a foul tip off the mask and is listed as day-to-day.
Soler has gone 3-for-33 with one homer and two RBIs in his last nine games for the Giants, who have 19 total runs over their last eight games (3-5).
“I think (Soler) is pretty close. He’s taking good swings, he’s hit balls hard, and it’s going to start showing up,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said. “I still think he’s working a little bit on his timing.”
The Phillies are monitoring the status of shortstop Trea Turner, who exited Friday’s game with left hamstring soreness after scoring from second base on a passed ball. He said he expects to be out for a couple of days.
“I hate being hurt, and it’s not gonna be fun for the training staff,” Turner said.
Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm singled in a run on Friday and is batting .469 (30-for-64) during a career-high 16-game hitting streak.
Outfielder Nick Castellanos is 8-for-43 (.186) over the last 11 games for the Phillies, who improved to 19-0 when leading after seven innings with Friday’s victory.
–Field Level Media
