Ranger Suarez back for Phillies against struggling Diamondbacks

Sidelined by a sore back for the first five weeks of the season, Ranger Suarez will make his 2025 debut on Sunday afternoon when the Philadelphia Phillies go for a three-game sweep of the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

A staple in the Philadelphia rotation over the last three-plus seasons, Suarez is coming off a year in which he went 12-8 with a 3.46 ERA. He made the National League All-Star team and posted a career high in wins, as well as strikeouts (145) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.54).

As Suarez, 29, pitches in a major league game for the first time since last fall, Phillies manager Rob Thomson has indicated he'll allow the left-hander to throw approximately 90 pitches if things go according to plan.

"He did 80 pitches last time out; we can probably up that a little bit," Thomson said in reference to the last of Suarez's four minor league rehabilitation outings. "But he won't be full."

Suarez's spot in the rotation could be temporary, as the Phillies also could use help in the bullpen moving forward. Suarez enjoyed success as a reliever earlier in his career, but he'd prefer to stay in the rotation.

"Obviously, it's got to depend on the context," he said this week. "That's a tough one. But, obviously, I want to be in the rotation all the time. I want to be a starter all the time. But if it's for the team's sake, if it's to win something, if it's to get to the World Series, then I'm willing to do anything."

Suarez is 1-3 with a 5.09 ERA in nine career games (six starts) against the Diamondbacks.

Arizona will give the nod on Sunday to Eduardo Rodriguez (1-3, 6.06 ERA), who will look to rebound from his worst start of the season. The left-hander gave up eight runs and nine hits in four innings against the New York Mets on Tuesday, striking out just one of the 22 batters he faced in an 8-3 defeat.

"I feel like it was one of those days when you don't have your pitches working great," Rodriguez said after the game. "I feel like today was just a grinder for me out of the gate. They were taking advantage of it. I felt like nothing was working right today."

Rodriguez is 1-1 with a 3.06 ERA in three career starts against Philadelphia.

Philadelphia took Friday's series opener 3-2 thanks to seventh-inning home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Max Kepler. Kepler hit another homer Saturday -- and J.T. Realmuto hit one of his own -- as the Phillies rolled to a 7-2 triumph, fueled by right-hander Aaron Nola's six scoreless innings in his first win of the season.

"We did a lot of good things tonight," Thomson said after Saturday's victory.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a two-run homer to account for all the Diamondbacks' offense. The team has only four runs in this series and has dropped seven of its last 10 games overall.

"We've just got to get back to the all-field approach," manager Torey Lovullo said. "Grind out (good at-bats), hit balls to all fields and all directions, understand what the at-bat is asking for, know where you're hitting in the lineup. Certain spots require you to get on base, certain spots and certain players. We've got to make sure they know what they're supposed to do inside of a lineup and attack, one through nine. We do that, we're a good team."

--Field Level Media