It kind of figures that Mick Abel would be the opposing pitcher that beat the Phillies and officially eliminated them from getting the overall top seed in baseball. After all, he came into the game as a former Phillies pitcher and had an ERA well above six. Naturally, he threw six shutout innings and struck out nine Phillies hitters in the process as the Minnesota Twins beat the Phillies 5-0 on a rainy Saturday night in South Philly.
Add to that the fact that Ranger Suarez took a line drive to the upper thigh in the fifth inning and exited the game and the loss looks a little worse. Suarez, who was laughing after the play, was lifted as a precaution and the injury is listed as an upper thigh contusion; a bruise to us common folk. With the Phillies having a first round bye, Suarez will have time to get treatment and there is no concern about him being able to pitch in the playoffs.
Actually, Suarez did not have his best stuff Saturday night. He allowed nine hits – two of which were home runs – in 4.1 innings and gave up three earned runs along the way. Max Lazar come on in relief and gave up two earned runs in 2.1 innings of relief. Orion Kerkering came on with a runner on second and two outs in the top of the seventh and struck out Royce Lewis to get out of the inning. Tim Mayza and Lou Trivino both threw a shutout inning of relief to follow Kerkering. Suarez (12-8, 3.20) took the loss.
Abel, who was dealt to Minnesota along with catching prospect Eduardo Tait to acquire Jhoan Duran, had not shown Twins fans what he was capable of doing on the mound until Saturday night. Coming into the game, Abel had a start and two relief appearances with Minnesota and posted an ERA of 14.62 in a Twins uniform. Combined with his time in Philadelphia, his major league record sat at 2-4 with a 7.36 ERA. After Saturday, Abel is now 3-4, 6.23 in eight starts and two relief appearances.
Prior to the game, Abel was presented with his Lehigh Valley IronPigs Pitcher of the Year trophy. With Lehigh Valley, the 24-year-old was 7-2 with a 2.31 ERA in 13 starts. At Triple-A St. Paul, the righty was 0-0 with a 1.85 ERA in five starts to finish his Triple-A season with a combined 2.20 ERA in 18 starts. Abel was also named the Triple-A Pitcher of the Year.
Alec Bohm continued his hot hitting streak since coming off of the IL, going 2-for-4 with two singles in the game. Since returning to the lineup on September 19, Bohm is batting .485 (16-for-33) with an eight game hitting streak and has two home runs and eight RBI during that span.
The loss gave Milwaukee (96-65) home field advantage throughout both the National League playoffs and the World Series should the go that far. The Phillies (95-66) would have home field advantage in every NL series except if they face Milwaukee and would also have home field advantage in the World Series.
The Mets and Reds both won on Saturday which lowered Cincinnati’s magic number to clinch the final wild card spot to one. If the Mets lose at Miami or the Reds defeat the Brewers in Milwaukee on Sunday, the Reds will eliminate the Mets from the playoffs since the Reds hold the tiebreaker.
The Phillies and Twins wrap up the regular season Sunday at 3:05 with Simeon Woods Richardson (7-4, 4.27) pitching for Minnesota and Cristopher Sanchez (13-5, 2.57) getting a tune-up start for Game 1 of the NLDS which he is scheduled to start.
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