Ranger Suárez took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and walked two early, but a double snapped it as Boston beat the Seattle Mariners after a strong outing that went the distance for the most part.
For a while on Friday night in Seattle. it looked like one of those Red Sox moments was finally coming—Suárez staring down the kind of history that usually stays just out of reach. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh. threw his first six innings like a machine. then watched it slip after the one thing that happens in baseball: one swing. one hit. and the spell breaks.
The game began with Suárez’s command. The 30-year-old right-handed start—listed as a southpaw—delivered three perfect innings to start. then walked Cal Raleigh in the fourth. He didn’t allow another hit for two more full innings. keeping Seattle’s bats silent until the moment his evening’s story changed.
In the seventh, Suárez allowed a leadoff walk and then another to Raleigh. With one out recorded, the no-hit bid ended when Josh Naylor ripped a sharp double down the line. Still. Suárez had the foundation of a special night: a 6.2-inning no-hit bid that was the longest of his career since he debuted in 2018. He finished with 19 outs, five strikeouts, and no runs allowed.
Suárez said the turning point wasn’t the pitch or the contact—it was the thought. After the game. he explained that the first time he became aware he hadn’t allowed a hit was when he started preparing to pitch in the seventh. Once it entered his mind, he felt the danger of expecting something perfect.
“When I was going into the seventh inning, it was the first time that I thought about it. Once I realized that I was thinking about it. I knew it wasn’t gonna happen. ” he said through a translator. “The first five innings I was pitching well and I wasn’t thinking about it. Once I started thinking about it, it just didn’t go the way that I wanted.”.
He added that the “magic” of the outing faded with the word “no-hitter,” describing how quickly imagining what could happen can change what’s happening in front of you.
“When you start thinking about it, it doesn’t have the same essence as the first six innings,” he said. “Once you start imagining what could be, that’s when it doesn’t happen.”
Carlos Narváez, who caught Suárez, said he noticed it even earlier than Suárez did—smelling a no-hitter developing like a forecast.
“Oh, man, he was amazing. I could smell the no-hitter,” Narváez told NESN’s Jahmai Webster on the field. “He was amazing controlling the zone, mixing pitches. … Tough inning, that last one. But you know, he was dialed in.”
Even with the hit that ended the streak, the rest of the night still belonged to Suárez. Interim manager Chad Tracy pulled him after 94 pitches with two outs after he walked Cole Young to load the bases. Justin Slaten came in and got through the jam by striking out J.P. Crawford, keeping Seattle scoreless while Boston held a 5-run lead.
For the Red Sox, Suárez’s night was another reminder of what he’s meant to this season. Boston signed him to a five-year. $130 million deal in free agency this past offseason after failing to land a top bat. He was expected to be a major piece of the club’s run prevention unit. which has been fairly successful. though wins haven’t always matched the pitching.
Individually, though, Suárez has been delivering. He owns a 2.93 ERA and 1.12 WHIP with 75 strikeouts through 14 starts (76.2 innings), and he’s allowed just four home runs. Health has been steadier than some worry for a pitcher: he dealt with a hamstring issue during an outing in early May that caused him to miss one start. but he never went on the injured list.
Boston’s last successful no-hitter before Friday came from Jon Lester on May 19, 2008, against the Kansas City Royals. Suárez couldn’t join that list on Friday—but he still secured his first victory in his personal win-loss record since April 27 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Red Sox will have to keep waiting for another complete no-hit run. What they won’t forget is how long Suárez pushed the idea to the edge—through six innings of dominance. into the seventh. and then. with one thought and one swing. the distance between history and reality became painfully. unmistakably clear.
Ranger Suarez Red Sox Mariners no-hitter MLB Boston
Wait so he had a no hitter and still walked people??
Red Sox gonna Red Sox. I swear the Mariners always get the bad luck swing when someone’s close to history.
So he was “perfect” for 3 innings but he walked earlier? Like the article says he walked Cal Raleigh in the fourth… so was it perfect or not lol. Either way, double in the 7th and boom no-hit gone. Baseball is dumb sometimes.
I don’t get how the “southpaw listed” thing works either. Like is he really righty? My cousin said lefties are cursed with no hitters or whatever. Glad Boston won though, Seattle always brags until they don’t. Also “thought about it” sounds like sports therapy talk, but okay.