Smiling Red Sox pitcher admits he had ‘nothing, nothing’

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KANSAS CITY — Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez smiled while discussing what worked for him to limit the Royals to one run on Tuesday.

“Nothing, nothing,” Suarez said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez.


Nothing, however, was good enough.

While Suarez felt like he didn’t have his best stuff, he still pitched effectively enough to help secure a 7-1 victory over Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium.

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The 30-year-old lefty pitched 4 ⅓ innings, allowing just the one run, four hits and three walks while striking out three.


“Today was one of those days that I felt I didn’t have the command on any of my pitches,” Suarez said. “But I just went out there to battle and try to go five.”

He said he was able to bear down in tough spots.

“I think that when I had men in scoring position, I was able to execute good pitches and try to limit the damage,” Suarez said.

Suarez has given up five runs over 40 ⅓ innings (1.12 ERA) in his past seven starts. He has a 2.40 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and .202 opponents’ batting average in nine starts overall this season.

“I mean, that’s not his best one and he still gave up one run,” interim manager Chad Tracy said.

Tracy pulled Suarez at 81 pitches in his second start since returning from right hamstring tightness. He threw 76 pitches in his return from injury last Thursday.

“A little bit more behind in the count than usual,” Tracy said about Suarez, who threw just 57% of his pitches for strikes. “We were going to keep the count in a manageable area still coming off that hamstring and not pushing too much. He got sharp there in the second, third, kind of fourth-(inning) range. Obviously he threw 30-something (pitches) in the first inning, so that labored him a little bit. But I still think, all things considered, he did a nice job.”


Red Sox starters — excluding openers — have allowed two or fewer runs in 11 of their past 13 games.

“We’re riding them,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa said of the starters. “Offensively, we should not be still in the wild card (race) as bad as we’ve been hitting. But it feels like everything’s starting to turn a little bit. And our pitching is doing a great job of keeping us in it. That’s what we’ve been riding. But we need to do a better job offensively, and we’re starting to show life. So if we can just keep that up, watch out.”

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