BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox fell to 18-25 with a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on a rainy Thursday night at Fenway Park. Despite the loss, it was former Phillie-turned-Red Sox' Ranger Suarez who took center stage, making his return to the Boston rotation and dominating his former team in the process.

Suarez made his return to the Boston rotation nearly two weeks after exiting his last start with hamstring tightness.

After spending the first eight seasons of his career with Philadelphia, he signed a five-year, $140 million deal with Boston in the offseason. The 30-year-old appeared fired up to face his former teammates as he saw his stuff tick up across the board, experiencing velocity increases on nearly all of his pitches.

As noted by the Section 10 Podcast's Tyler Milliken, Suarez' fastball was up nearly 1.5 mph after his first two innings of work. Overall, he saw his four-seam tick up 0.3 mph, with the biggest jump coming on his cutter, which was up 1.4 mph.

"To be honest with you it was like a regular game," Suarez said of facing his former team. "Obviously I know they were my old teammates, but I wanted to just get deep into the game," he continued. 

Suarez made quick work of his former teammates, retiring the first 11 batters he faced before issuing a walk to Philadelphia first baseman Bryce Harper in the fourth inning. It wasn't until the fifth inning that he faced real trouble, allowing a leadoff single to third baseman Alec Bohm. Suarez struck out centerfielder Brandon Marsh before allowing back-to-back singles to load the bases with only one out. With the top of the order looming, he struck out the Phillies second baseman Edmundo Sosa, setting up a primetime matchup with star Trea Turner, striking him out looking to escape the jam. 

After returning for the sixth inning, he would strike out the league's home run leader, Kyle Schwarber, before allowing Harper to reach on a single. Boston's interim manager Chad Tracy was quick with the hook, pulling Suarez from the game after just 76 pitches, turning to reliever Justin Slaten to get the final two outs of the inning. 

"We had felt like even prior to that last inning, he was starting to fatigue a little bit," Tracy explained after the game. "Based on the fact that he hadn't thrown in 11-12 days, that it felt like that was the right time to cut it," he continued. 

The final line on Suarez: 5.1 shutout innings, four hits allowed, with one walk and eight strikeouts. Per J.P Long on Twitter/X Suarez has now thrown 19 straight scoreless innings, holding batters to a .136 batting average in his last three starts. 

His strong performance wasn't enough, though, as the Boston offense's home struggles continued, failing to capitalize on several opportunities en route to the loss. 

Boston ended its six-game homestand with a record of  2-4, dropping both series against Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. Things won't get any easier for the Red Sox as they hit the road for a six-game trip beginning Friday night in Atlanta. Rookie lefty Connelly Early gets the start opposite Spencer Strider. First pitch from Truist Park set for 7:15 p.m. ET. 

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