Boston Red Sox
Boston’s last hit was thrown by Jon Lester on May 19, 2008 against the Kansas City Royals.
The Red Sox will have to keep waiting for the next hit. AP Photo/John Froschauer
One of the few bright spots on the 2026 Boston Red Sox roster is starting pitcher Ranger Suarez, and he continued that trend on Friday night.
Given the 10:10pm Eastern start time with the Red Sox in Seattle, you may have missed that Suarez didn’t pitch in the 7th inning Against sailors.
Suarez, 30, threw three perfect innings to start his evening before walking Cal Raleigh in the fourth, but he kept Seattle’s bats at bay for two more full innings before allowing his first base hit of the night.
Suarez allowed a leadoff walk, and another to Raleigh, in the seventh inning and scored one out before Josh Naylor ripped a sharp double down the line.
The 6.2-inning no-hitter was the longest of Suarez’s career since his 2018 debut.
After the game, Suarez said he was aware of the fact that he did not allow a hit when he went to the seventh, and he knew he was going to give one up as soon as that realization came to his mind.
“When I was going into the seventh inning, that was the first time I was thinking about it. Once I realized I was thinking about it, I knew it wasn’t going to happen,” he said through an interpreter. “The first five rounds I was playing well and I wasn’t thinking about it. Once I started thinking about it, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to.”
Suarez added that the “magic” of his outing was gone as soon as he thought of the phrase “no-hitter”.
“When you start thinking about it, it doesn’t have the same substance as the first six innings,” he said. “Once you start imagining what could happen, then it doesn’t happen.”
Carlos Narvaez, who spotted Suarez’s excellent start, said he picked up the scent that arrived perhaps no earlier than the pitcher did.
“Oh, man, that was amazing. I can smell the no-hitters,” he told NESN’s Jahmai Webster on the field. “He was amazing at controlling the zone, mixing up shots. … The last period was tough. But you know, it got dialed in.”
However, the southpaw tallied 19 strikeouts before the double in a dominant effort on the mound with five hits and no runs. He earned his first win on his personal win-loss record since April 27 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Interim manager Chad Tracy elected to take Suarez out of the game after 94 pitches with two outs after Cole Young walked to load the bases. Reliever Justin Slatten got out of the jam by striking out J.P. Crawford to keep Seattle scoreless with Boston leading by five runs.
Suarez has been a key component of Boston’s fairly strong rotation this year. The Red Sox signed him to a five-year, $130 million deal in free agency last offseason after failing to land a big bat.
He was selected to be a big part of the club’s run blocking unit, which was somewhat successful, but did not lead to wins due to very lackluster performances from the lineup in a lot of his rookie games.
But on an individual level, Suarez was worth his $26 million per year contract. He owns a 2.93 ERA and 1.12 WHIP with 75 strikeouts over 14 starts (76.2 innings), and has allowed just four home runs. He’s stayed healthy, too. He dealt with a hamstring issue during an outing in early May, causing him to miss one start. He was never included in the injured list.
Suarez didn’t quite make history with a no-hitter on Friday, but they’ve been extremely difficult to hit in Boston in recent memory. Jon Lester threw the club’s final game on May 19, 2008 against the Kansas City Royals.
Get the latest Boston sports news
Get updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.