SEATTLE -- Caught on a four-game skid, in a 4-10 month, staring down the possibility of falling 15 games under .500 for the first time since 2020, the Red Sox needed Ranger Suarez to be the $130 million stopper they signed as a centerpiece of their offseason.
Consider Friday a job well done in that regard, and then some.
Suarez took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and settled for 6 2/3 scoreless, one-hit innings, striking out five to power the Red Sox to a 6-2 win over the Mariners.
The left-hander retired the first 13 batters he faced, losing his bid at perfection in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out walk to Cal Raleigh. After that, he retired the next eight Mariners, before walking Raleigh again in the bottom of the seventh. After Ceddanne Rafaela kept the no-hitter alive with a sliding catch in shallow center, Josh Naylor ended it with a one-out double to the right-center-field gap.
After Suarez walked Cole Young to load the bases with two outs, interim manager Chad Tracy brought in Justin Slaten, who fanned J.P. Crawford to seal the scoreless outing for Suarez.
Coming into the day with a fastball that ranked in the league’s sixth percentile for velocity, Suarez’s stuff was even slower than normal Friday, with his four-seamer down 0.9 mph from his season average -- it topped out at 92.5 mph -- and his sinker down 1.3 mph.
But the Mariners had no answers for him all night long, whiffing 10 times -- at least once on each of his six pitch types -- and striking out looking thrice. Naylor’s double was the only ball the Mariners hit in the air with an exit velocity over 92 mph.
Caleb Durbin gave Suarez all the offense he would need in the top of the second, lifting a first-pitch fastball from Bryce Miller with a launch angle of 40 degrees and sending it just far enough to clear the wall in left field for his second home run in as many games. Then, after the Mariners swapped starting pitchers as part of their piggyback plan, the Sox took advantage, plating four runs in the seventh off Luis Castillo.