Kyle Schwarber's late blast spoils Ranger Suarez gem in Red Sox 3-1 loss to Phillies

When it rains, it pours, and no, that’s not just referring to the 22-minute weather delay before first pitch.

The Red Sox wasted another outstanding outing from Ranger Suarez on Thursday night, as Kyle Schwarber crushed a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning to lift the Phillies to a 3-1 win at Fenway Park.

Facing his former team for the first time, Suarez was excellent. The left-hander held Philadelphia to just four hits over 5 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out eight. Once the game finally got underway, Suarez immediately carved through the Phillies lineup, keeping his former club hitless through the first four innings. Philadelphia did not record its first hit until Alec Bohm led off the fifth inning with a single to left field. The Phillies later loaded the bases in the inning, but Suarez escaped the jam by striking out Edmundo Sosa swinging on a changeup before freezing Trea Turner with a cutter to keep the game scoreless.

Suarez has quietly become one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. The left-hander has now allowed one earned run or fewer in five of his last six outings. Over that stretch, Suarez owns a sparkling 1.00 ERA, surrendering just four earned runs across 36 innings. Through eight starts this season, the 30-year-old owns a 2.44 ERA and 0.95 WHIP while holding opponents to a .197 batting average.

Suarez has also made five scoreless starts this season and has completed at least five innings in four of those outings. He is currently tied with Angels right-hander José Soriano for the most scoreless starts in Major League Baseball this year.

“All things considered coming off the hamstring, he looked sharp, velocity was up, did what he wanted to with the ball in and out, down just like last time, and really, really good outing,” interim manager Chad Tracy said of Suarez.

The Red Sox offense looked lifeless once again Thursday night, continuing a troubling trend that has plagued Boston for most of the season.

The Sox had chances early against Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo but failed to capitalize.

In the third inning, Carlos Narváez led off with a double and advanced to third with one out on a Caleb Durbin sacrifice bunt. But Isiah Kiner-Falefa chased a sweeper well below the strike zone for a strikeout, and Jarren Duran grounded back to the mound to end the threat.

Boston wasted another opportunity in the fourth inning.

Wilyer Abreu singled to left field but was picked off first base by Luzardo. One batter later, Willson Contreras ripped a double off the Green Monster, though he was stranded at second after Ceddanne Rafaela flied out to center field.

The Red Sox also failed to execute situationally in the sixth inning.

Andruw Monasterio opened the frame with a double and moved to third on Abreu’s groundout to second base. With one out and the infield drawn in, Contreras grounded to shortstop, but Boston did not have the contact play on, and Monasterio remained at third base.

Luzardo escaped the inning moments later by getting Rafaela to ground out to shortstop.

The Phillies left-hander turned in a strong outing, tossing six scoreless innings while allowing four hits, one walk, and striking out four. He also hit one batter.

It marked Luzardo’s fourth quality start of the season and his second outing this year of at least six scoreless innings. His four-strikeout performance also moved him into fifth place in the National League with 61 strikeouts this season.

Tracy also made one of his more questionable bullpen decisions since taking over as interim manager.

Tracy opted to deploy Garrett Whitlock, arguably Boston’s most reliable reliever, against the bottom third of Philadelphia’s order in the seventh inning before turning to rookie left-hander Tyler Samaniego to face the top of the Phillies lineup in the eighth.

Turner immediately put pressure on Samaniego in the eighth inning, lining a first-pitch single to lead off the frame. One batter later, Schwarber continued his torrid stretch at the plate. The former Red Sox slugger crushed his MLB-leading 18th home run of the season, a towering 417-foot two-run shot that sailed deep into the seats beyond the visitors’ bullpen and gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead. Schwarber has now homered twice in the series and continues to punish Boston, while further highlighting the offensive thump the Red Sox lineup has sorely lacked this season.

“I mean, he’s got 18 home runs now on May (14),” Tracy said. “Splitting hairs, he’s tough against left or right. Try your best to make it as difficult as possible, and that’s (Samaniego’s) lane.”

Schwarber’s eighth-inning blast was the ninth go-ahead home run of his career in the eighth inning or later, further cementing his reputation as one of baseball’s premier late-game power threats.

One of the few bright spots for the Red Sox this season has been their defense, but Boston faltered in a key moment Thursday night. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning, Durbin hesitated briefly before making his throw to first on a ground ball off the bat of Bryson Stott. That split-second delay proved costly.

Stott was initially ruled out at first base, but the Phillies challenged the call and replay review overturned it to an RBI infield single, extending Philadelphia’s lead to 3-0. He finished the night 1-for-2 and has now driven in 12 RBIs over his last 13 games.

Boston finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth inning. Monasterio doubled with one out before Abreu lined an RBI single to bring home the Red Sox’ lone run of the night. Abreu recorded his 16th multi-hit game of the season, tied for the sixth-most in Major League Baseball. He has now posted multi-hit performances in back-to-back games for the fourth time this year. Over his last 20 games, the right fielder is hitting .342 with a .930 OPS.

The Red Sox continued to waste scoring opportunities throughout the night.

Boston went hitless in its first eight at-bats with runners in scoring position and stranded six runners before finally scoring in the eighth inning. Overall, the Sox finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position while leaving nine men on base despite collecting seven hits compared to Philadelphia’s nine.

“We had our chances for sure,” Tracy said. “Again, gave ourselves the opportunities and were a hit or two away from leading that game late.” 

Boston has now lost three of its last four games and four of its last six overall. The Red Sox dropped to 18-25 on the season and fell to 8-14 at Fenway Park.

Thursday also marked the 12th time this season Boston has scored one run or fewer and the third time in its last four games the offense has been held to a single run or shut out entirely.

The Red Sox will now head to Atlanta to open a three-game series against the Braves on Friday night. Rookie left-hander Connelly Early (3-2, 3.16 ERA) is scheduled to start for Boston opposite Braves right-hander Spencer Strider (1-0, 2.89 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET.