Phillies All-Star looks ‘one-dimensional’ after injury, manager warns

The Philadelphia Phillies have surged to baseball’s best record thanks largely to one of the deepest starting rotations in baseball.

But a late-season injury has called that depth into question, sending All-Star southpaw Ranger Suárez to the injured list with lower back soreness in July. Suárez has since returned to the mound, but something has seemed off , particularly after he gave up 12 hits and four earned runs in 5.1 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays in his most recent outing.

“He sort of became one-dimensional,” manager Rob Thomson told Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer, following that start.

In the first 62 innings of the season, Suárez maintained a 2.90 ERA with 8.56 K/9 thanks to his command of a deep pitching mix, including a nasty changeup, sinker and curveball. But since returning from injury, his ERA has been 4.19 with a 3.73 BABIP that ranks as the highest among Phillies starters across that span.

As Thomson noted, he has struggled to regain command of the versatile pitch mix that made him so lethal at the start of the year.

“Time is running short to rediscover the form that made him an All-Star — and set the Phillies apart from other World Series contenders by giving them a trio of elite-level starters atop their rotation,” Lauber added, referring to the trio of Suárez, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler. “More than anything, a fully effective Suárez is what the Phillies need now.”

Suárez is set to make a few more starts before the playoffs begin and Thomson noted that the pitcher’s struggles since returning have come in lieu of rehab outings in the minor leagues. But if the Phillies are going to make another deep run toward the World Series this season, Suárez will have to be fully rehabilitated and back to the kind of multi-dimensional pitching that has made him a workhorse in past playoff series .

“Beyond Suárez’s ceiling as a Cy Young pitcher, he’s already proven to be an enormous weapon in October — he owns a 1.62 ERA across nine playoff appearances (seven starts) over the past two years,” Deesha Thosar reported for Fox Sports. “Suárez has been a true X-factor for the Phillies, but this year, he just might be a catalyst to another Fall Classic appearance.”

More MLB: Cubs $55 million veteran left ‘fighting for his job’ after disappointing season