Ranger Suarez Has Key Opportunity to Turn Season Around for the Phillies on Friday

The Philadelphia Phillies have turned things around after a slow start to the season, currently sitting in second place in the National League East with a record of 25-18.

That puts them just two and a half games behind the division-leading New York Mets despite a number of factors working against them.

The Phillies sit 23rd in MLB in reliever ERA, as key offseason acquisition Jordan Romano has, for one reason or another, failed to establish himself as a reliable high-leverage option late in games for manager Rob Thomson.

On the other hand, Philadelphia ranks fifth in starter ERA, posting a phenomenal 3.47 mark that has them right where they belong, among the very best starting staffs in the sport.

The truth, though, is that Phillies fans have every right to expect even more of their stable of starters.

Veterans Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez, who have been effective mainstays of this pitching staff for as long as this team's contention window has been open, and in Nola's case even longer, have, due to injury or poor performance, not made contributions yet.

Nola's struggles have been well documented, but the righty has put immense mileage on his arm over the years, and the bill was going to come due at some point.

Suarez has made two starts since returning from a back injury that sidelined him for the first portion of the season, and his two outings were a mixed bag.

The southpaw was roughed up by the Arizona Diamondbacks for seven earned runs in 3.2 innings in his season debut, but he followed it up with seven shutout frames against the Cleveland Guardians.

The question of which version of Suarez shows up more often this year will go a long way toward determining how successful of a regular season Philadelphia has.

A golden opportunity sits in front of Suarez on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates as he looks to build on his gem against the Guardians.

The Pirates struggle offensively regardless, but the issues are even more glaring when facing left-handed pitchers.

Pittsburgh's team OPS against southpaws sits at .612, and they have only hit eight home runs in 442 plate appearances.

Another shutout outing for Suarez would have get his season stats to a good place, and it would go a long way toward solidifying this rotation as elite.

With Zack Wheeler, Jesus Luzardo and Cristopher Sanchez performing as well as they are, a strong and healthy Suarez would make this group truly formidable.