Red Sox ride Ranger Suárez's breakout start, ninth-inning surge to beat Cardinals 7-1

Ranger Suárez’s tenure with the Red Sox got off to a rocky start. The left-hander opened the season with two shortened outings against the Astros and Padres, allowing eight earned runs on 13 hits over 8 1/3 innings.

But on Saturday night, Boston’s $130 million offseason signing delivered his best performance yet, tossing six shutout innings in a 7-1 win over the Cardinals.

“Extremely pumped after that outing, but mostly because we needed the win,” Suárez said (through interpreter Davison Perez). Everybody came in and did their jobs.”

Entering his third start of the season, Suárez was coming off an unconventional spring. He left camp to pitch for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, where he was part of the eventual championship-winning club.  

The disruption limited his buildup, prompting Boston to reshuffle its rotation and give the left-hander additional time to ramp up ahead of the regular season.

Saturday night began with more of the same for Suárez, as he needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning before starting to settle in.

He generated soft contact early, including a double play off the bat of Iván Herrera, a brief glimpse of the Red Sox’ run-prevention model in action. But the momentum didn’t fully stick, as Suárez followed by issuing back-to-back walks.

Suárez found his rhythm from there. He set the Cardinals down in order in the third and faced just four batters in the fourth.

The left-hander was dominant in the fifth and sixth, retiring St. Louis in order in both frames. He needed just seven pitches in the fifth, getting Pedro Pagés to ground out on the first pitch an 89.2 mph sinker fielded by Marcelo Mayer, before striking out Victor Scott II looking on three pitches and inducing a groundout from JJ Wetherholt to Willson Contreras.

“He moved the ball around,” Alex Cora said. “It seems like his arm was a lot quicker than the first two (outings). It tells me he feels better.”

Suárez’s outing Saturday night is exactly what the Red Sox hope to see more of from their new left-hander. Typically calm and composed, Suárez showed visible frustration during a lengthy first inning before settling in. From that point on, he threw just 57 pitches, retiring 15 of the final 17 batters he faced, including a stretch of eight in a row.

“I was definitely trying to be too fine with my pitches,” Suárez said. “After that inning, I was able to reset and pitch the way I normally do.”

In total, Suárez delivered six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with two walks, both coming in the first, while striking out six. He earned his first win of the season and now has a strong outing to build on as the Red Sox return home next week to face the Tigers at Fenway Park.

“He thought it was really good today. It was diving at the end,” said Cora. The action, the arm, the way he was moving on the mound was good, so that was a good sign.

One thing Suárez emphasized postgame was how much better he felt mechanically. He told Cora that his back leg felt more stable, a key difference from his first two starts.

After working six innings Saturday, that improved foundation could be the key to helping the left-hander pitch deeper into games moving forward.

“Definitely,” Suárez said when asked if it felt good to make a good impression. “Especially since I wasn’t able to have a full spring training, to go out there and have positive results. I threw 84 pitches today so that’s going to help me as I go on, to keep getting better and better.”

The Red Sox offense which has been Jekyll and Hyde all season, finally found a spark it had been missing since Opening Day.

Boston put up seven runs, including five in the ninth, but the breakthrough started early as the lineup showed signs of life from the jump.

Contreras, returning to St. Louis for the first time since being traded this offseason, was hit in the back in the second inning by Cardinals right-hander Kyle Leahy. Unlike his heated reaction against Milwaukee, there were no theatrics this time, Contreras simply took his base and moved on.

In the fourth inning, the Red Sox finally broke through against Leahy, who had carved through the lineup the first time around.

As FOX broadcaster John Smoltz noted, the right-hander showed his full pitch mix early, giving Boston a better look at what to expect the second time through the order, and the lineup made the adjustment.

Leahy’s outing unraveled in the fourth, as he threw 35 pitches in the inning. Roman Anthony, back in the lineup after his day off Friday, worked a leadoff walk, and Jarren Duran followed with a single to right. Contreras then made him pay, lacing a two-run double into left field.

“It was good to put the ball in play … especially to start a rally,” Contreras told reporters postgame.

The fourth inning marked the end of Leahy’s night, forcing the Cardinals into their bullpen early. The former reliever, now working as a starter, was charged with two earned runs on three hits, three walks, and two strikeouts, taking the loss.

After the Cardinals pulled within a run on Jordan Walker’s eighth-inning homer, his league-leading sixth of the season, Boston responded with a five-run outburst in the ninth.

Trevor Story drew his first walk of the season to spark the rally, followed by six straight one-out singles from Carlos Narváez, Ceddanne Rafaela drove in his fifth run of the season, Anthony, Caleb Durbin out of the No. 2 spot for the second night in a row had a two-run hit, Duran added an RBI, and Contreras drove in his third run of the game.

It marked Boston’s first five-run inning of the season.

“We talk about bringing the energy no matter what happens, we talk about fighting every at-bat no matter what happens,” Contreras said. “We’re not looking to hit homers, we’re looking to put the ball in play. And then if we do damage, we do damage.

“But I think we have to start, at some point, like putting the ball in play more. And we did in the ninth, and it worked out. I think the homers are gonna come, the doubles are gonna come, but if we stay short to the ball, we stay trying hit our singles and our walks … going to be OK.”

The Red Sox finished with 10 hits and seven runs, with most of the damage coming in the ninth inning. Contreras’ double was Boston’s only extra-base hit of the night, and the club has managed just three extra-base hits over its last four games. They’ve also hit just one home run in seven games since the home opener.

One bright spot: Mayer reached base three times out of the No. 7 spot, singling in the third and drawing walks in the fourth and seventh innings.

Boston’s ninth-inning rally allowed them to stay away from Aroldis Chapman, who had been warming prior to the offensive surge. Instead, the Red Sox leaned on Greg Weissert, Danny Coulombe, Whitlock, and Ryan Watson to close out the win.

There was also a bizarre sequence in the bottom of the seventh. José Fermín was initially awarded first base after a one-out hit-by-pitch, but Cora challenged and got the call overturned. Moments later, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol challenged as well, and the call was reversed again, this time on catcher’s interference by Narváez, sending Fermín back to first.

Boston will now look to secure back-to-back series wins as Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.00 ERA) takes the mound Sunday. He’ll aim to follow Suárez’s lead and rebound from a rough start to the season. The Cardinals will counter with right-hander Andre Pallante (1-0, 1.80 ERA) in the rubber match, with first pitch set for 2:15 p.m. ET.