When the Boston Red Sox lost third baseman Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs in free agency, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow made a quick pivot to pitching.
Instead of finding Bregman’s replacement, Breslow pivoted to Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez. It has been an up-and-down season for Suárez in Boston, but they got the performance they have been waiting for against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Boston Red Sox Pitcher Ranger Suárez Delivers Dominating Performance Against Orioles
Since the All-Star break, Suárez has pitched to an ERA of 5.01 and has not gone past 5.1 innings in any outing, according to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. At Camden Yards Friday night, he was dominating.
Suárez went seven innings, allowing five hits and striking out three while issuing just one walk. He needed just 91 pitches for his outing, where he improved to 6-4 and dropped his ERA to 3.44.
“Literally, I’ve been waiting for this start for a while,” Suarez said via a translator, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. “To be able to have a start like tonight and have a strong end of the year, that’s what I’m looking for.”
Suárez was coming off a start against the New York Yankees in the Bronx last Sunday where things unraveled quickly. After four scoreless innings, he allowed six runs and nine hits in the fifth and sixth innings. Boston went on to lose the game 16-1 to drop three out of four. Interim manager Chad Tracy didn’t mince words about his All-Star’s performance.
“There were games in the first half of the season he’d strike out 10, and there’s other games where he pitches eight innings on 80-something pitches because he’s ahead in the count and you get weak contact and early outs and double-play balls and all sorts of things,” said Tracy, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “When he’s working ahead and he can put the ball where he wants, he’s difficult. We needed that as a team, but also for him, that was a good one.”
Boston Red Sox Guaranteed Split With Baltimore Orioles
After winning the first game Thursday night, 6-5, Boston is guaranteed to at least split the four-game series with the Orioles. They have two more games, one Saturday night and one Sunday afternoon, to close it out. Both losses have been devastating to Baltimore’s American League wild-card chances.
Mickey Gasper provided Suárez with the only run he would need Friday night. His first-inning solo home run off Shane Baz was all that the Red Sox needed. Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman each pitched a scoreless inning in relief. As for Gasper, Tracy is running out of words about his power surge.
“He’s been awesome,” said Tracy, per Browne. “I keep saying that I’m running out of words, but what he’s done in his opportunities and what he’s doing over the course of the last two weeks, he’s helping us big time to win baseball games. His at-bats have been awesome.”
Gasper is only in the lineup because Willson Contreras is on the injured list. Suárez and Tracy were glad he was, and his one swing was all that they needed.
Boston Red Sox Pitcher Ranger Suárez Drops Blunt Quote After Dominating Baltimore Orioles