Ranger Suarez Takes No-Hitter into Seventh, Leads Red Sox to 6-2 Victory

Ranger Suárez carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Friday night at T-Mobile Park, AP reported. Suárez threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit and zero earned runs while striking out five — earning his first win in nearly two months.
The win came in front of a sellout crowd of 45,775. It was a bright night for a struggling Red Sox squad that sits 29-43, some 15.5 games back in the AL East, according to CBS Sports.
Suárez was dominant from the start. He retired the first several Mariners batters and lost his perfect game in the fourth inning by walking catcher Cal Raleigh. But the no-hitter stayed alive — until Josh Naylor broke it up with a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh, AP reported.
By then, Suárez had thrown 94 pitches and allowed just that one hit. He walked three total and struck out five. His previous win came on April 27 against Toronto. Since then, he had posted a 4.56 ERA over five June starts, according to CBS Sports.
Caleb Durbin gave the Red Sox their first run with a solo home run — his fifth of the year — off Mariners starter Bryce Miller in the second inning. It was Durbin's second three-hit game of the season, AP noted.
Marcelo Mayer was scratched from the starting lineup due to illness but came in as a late substitute and delivered a bases-loaded two-run single in the seventh inning. He added an RBI double in the ninth, finishing the night with three RBIs total. Boston scored four runs in the seventh to turn a close game into a blowout.
Carlos Narváez added a sacrifice fly during that same seventh-inning burst. Ceddanne Rafaela scored on a wild pitch. The Red Sox went from a 1-0 lead to a 5-0 advantage in a matter of minutes.
The Mariners used a rare "piggyback" strategy — pairing two starters in one game to manage workloads. Bryce Miller started and pitched five solid innings, giving up just one run. Then the team brought in Luis Castillo, normally a starter himself, to take over in the seventh, according to the Seattle Times.
Castillo struggled badly in relief. He gave up five runs — four earned — on seven hits over four innings. He threw 63 pitches. Seattle Times writer Ryan Divish wrote that the transition turned a "competitive 1-0 game into a non-competitive mess." Seattle's GM Justin Hollander said the piggyback plan was "unanimous" among the pitching staff, but results told a different story.
The Mariners' only offense came in the ninth inning. Julio Rodríguez hit a two-run home run to center field off Boston reliever Tommy Kahnle — his 14th homer of the season. It ended Boston's shutout bid but did nothing to change the outcome. The final score was 6-2, AP reported.
The loss dropped Seattle to 39-37. The Mariners still lead the AL West, but the defeat has raised questions about their six-man rotation experiment. With the Athletics and Astros close behind, analysts at CBS Sports noted Seattle cannot afford to give games away on pitching strategy. Trade rumors have since surfaced about moving one of their surplus starters before the July deadline.
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