Feels and looks like October, Phillies hope, with 21 hits and a strong Ranger Suarez start

PHILADELPHIA – The temperature was 69 degrees at first pitch and the theme night was billed as Oktoberfest.

So it certainly felt like fall at Citizens Bank Park. More importantly, the Phillies made it look like the autumn they and a sellout throng of 44,471 hope to have.

Their Aug. 18 performance was worthy of the real October, which will arrive glimmering with its postseason showdowns and World Series opportunity.

 If they can repeat it then, it’ll certainly be festive.

The timing was also important as a 12-7 win over the playoff-worthy Seattle Mariners came on the day ace pitcher Zack Wheeler, his baseball future suddenly uncertain, had a blood clot removed from his upper right arm.

As the Phillies commenced the effort to thrive without him, starting pitcher Ranger Suarez picked the perfect time to resort to his stellar early-season form.

"It was huge," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Suarez's showing. "Ranger was big tonight. His command was impeccable."

He was backed by a 21-hit onslaught that culminated with Bryce Harper’s three-run seventh-inning blast, his second homer of the night that soared more than 440 feet into the second deck. It was the first time since at least 1974 all nine Phillies batters had hits in the first two innings.

"Huge night for the offense," Harper said.

The Phillies initially brutalized Seattle starter Logan Gilbert, who arrived sporting a 3.31 ERA, with six second-inning runs courtesy of seven hits.

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The biggest was Trea Turner’s 3-run swat into the left-field seats that landed there dripping with statistical significance. It was his 1,500^th career hit, making Turner the 25^th active player to reach that milestone.

Furthermore, the 32-year-old Turner became just the 20^th player in baseball’s modern era, which commenced in 1901, to have 1,500 hits and more than 500 extra-base hits and 300 stolen bases before age 33.

Ten of those 20 are in the Hall of Fame, including the immortal Ty Cobb and former Phillies manager and Cubs great Ryan Sandberg. One of the 10 who isn’t is former Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

"I've watched a lot of baseball growing up," Turner said. "I know a lot of players. When you're kinda next to somebody, a player you've looked up to or watched play, I think that's when I feel like, oh, that's probably a big deal.

"But, as far as me right now, I just feel like hopefully I have a lot more hits in me and we can keep doing it."

Turner’s star power is certainly overshadowed by the significance of Kyle Schwarber’s and Harper’s. But the National League’s leader in hits continued to be equally clutch as the first-place Phillies extended their NL East lead to 5½ games over the idle Mets.   

Turner finished the night 4-for-6 and also had a double and five RBI. The homer was his 13th this year but first at home.

"He's a stud, man," Harper said of Turner. "That's why he's here."

That second inning also featured J.T. Realmuto’s solo homer and No. 9 hitter Bryson Stott’s RBI double. The Phillies, who’ve had their periods of offensive sluggishness, opened the second inning with five straight hits.

All came in support of Suarez who, after allowing season-high hit totals his two previous starts, silenced Seattle. He carried a shutout into the seventh inning before Mitch Garver’s two-out solo homer.

Suarez allowed four hits and equaled his career high with 10 strikeouts. He departed to a standing ovation before Jordan Romano came on and later served up a 3-run homer to No. 9 Mariners hitter Cole Young. Nolan Hoffman later gave up three ninth-inning runs in his MLB debut.

Wheeler's situation also moved and motivated Suarez.

"Coming into this game today, I was thinking, maybe that's what we're all thinking as a starting staff," Suarez said through an interpreter. "We lost a great pitcher, we lost a great player, and we just have to perform as best as we can so we can try to fill those shoes."

Contact Kevin Tresolini at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Phillies vs Mariners highlights: 21 hits, 12 runs and a strong Ranger Suarez