What Rob Thompson says as Phillies’key players Ranger Suarez and Bryce Harper lead a serious NL contender………Is it good??

On April 22, after some prompting from a reporter, manager Rob Thomson declared himself lacking “the vocabulary” to describe his starters’ terrific results. This followed what was supposed to be a “pullback” game following Suárez’s complete game win against the Rockies on April 16. Instead, the left-hander completed seven innings against the Reds, pushing his scoreless inning streak to 25 in a 7-0 Phillies win. Thomson called the lefty’s slider that evening “really, really good.”

Before taking the mound Saturday night, he was ranked 10th in pitcher power rankings by MLB.com.

Suárez promptly turned the clock back to 1967, when pitchers sometimes threw two complete games in three starts without throwing pitches north of 95 mph. He fell a bit short and had his scoreless innings streak broken at 32 2/3 innings, but he moved to 5-0 as the Phils won, 5-1. His ERA ticked down to 1.32. (He also had Alex Bohm to thank; the third baseman battered Dylan Cease for four RBI.)

Suárez does not throw hard; so how does he put these numbers up? He hits his spots precisely. After Saturday’s start against San Diego, he ranks in the 90th percentile in hard-hit rate, allowing only 27.6 percent. He’s in the 78th percentile barrel rate and 91st in walk rate — an insane 4.1 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively

Ranger Suárez and Bryce Harper are not perfect players, but they are key players. So far, they’re earning their Phillies paychecks.

And the Phillies have five stars playing well at the same time.