The Boston Red Sox were dealt a blow that not many teams in baseball would be able to overcome on April 29 when 2025 American League Cy Young Award runner-up Garrett Crochet landed on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation that has kept him out of action for over three months. However, thanks to the strength of their pitching depth, the Red Sox find themselves firmly in control of the second Wild Card spot in the American League. Among the starters that have stepped up in the absence of Crochet is big-ticket free agent signee, All-Star lefty Ranger Suarez, who inked a five-year, $130 million deal with Boston ahead of the 2026 season. However, over the last month, Suarez has not looked like his All-Star self. 

In his first 17 starts of the season, Suarez posted a 3.15 ERA, the 18th-lowest mark among all starters with at least 90 innings pitched, en route to the second All-Star nod of his nine-year big league career. However, in his final start ahead of the All-Star break, Suarez exited the Red Sox win in Los Angeles after just 2.2 innings after suffering a left adductor strain, which landed him on the 15-day injured list, keeping him out of All-Star festivities. 

After spending 17 days on the injured list, Suarez was activated on July 26, but he has yet to return to his pre-All-Star break form, posting a 5.01 ERA, walking 9.3 percent of the batters he's faced while allowing 1.45 base runners per inning, all significant rises from his numbers prior to the injury.

Suarez's latest rough start came in Sunday afternoon's disastrous 16-1 loss to the New York Yankees in what was arguably the most important game of the regular season. It was smooth sailing for the All-Star lefty through four innings when, with a man on first base, Ceddanne Rafaela made what appeared to be one of the best catches of the season, which was ruled a base hit and later upheld by replay review.

After the controversial call, the 30-year-old Suarez completely unraveled, allowing five earned runs on four hits, including a mammoth 416-foot home run off the bat of the struggling Yankees' outfielder Heliot Ramos. 

Thanks to a postseason ERA of 1.48 over 42.2 innings, Suarez had built the reputation of being a big game pitcher, and, unfortunately, his first chance to put that label to the test as a member of the Red Sox came up empty. 

However, with Crochet not expected to return to a starter's workload until the 2027 season, Sonny Gray showing some signs of slowing down and Jake Bennett and Payton Tolle pitching more than they ever have before, Boston will need Suarez to shake whatever has been ailing him over the last month of play and recapture his All-Star form from the first half before postseason play rolls around at the end of September. 

The Sox will look to turn the page on the rough weekend in the Bronx when they welcome the struggling Seattle Mariners to Fenway Park for a three-game set that gets underway on Monday night. Payton Tolle (8-6, 3.09 ERA) will get the start for Boston opposite George Kirby (9-10, 4.02 ERA) for Seattle. First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. ET.