{"id":673806,"date":"2026-04-12T04:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/673806\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:48:25","slug":"ranger-suarez-red-sox-defeat-cardinals-7-1-in-well-rounded-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/673806\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranger Suarez, Red Sox defeat Cardinals 7-1 in well-rounded win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Red Sox\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBoston scored five runs in the ninth inning to even the weekend series in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tThird time\u2019s the charm for Ranger Suarez, who notched his first quality start in a Red Sox uniform Saturday. Michael Thomas\/AP\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Kaley Brown<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApril 12, 2026 | 12:06 AM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

2 minutes to read<\/p>\n

The Red Sox earned a much-needed 7-1 win against the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday night, and it was a well-rounded victory, at that.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRed Sox\u2019 offense bounces back huge in 7-1 win over Cardinals\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Boston plated seven runs<\/a>, including five in the ninth inning to put the game away, holding a lead for the full contest.<\/p>\n

It was a breath of fresh air to see the lineup string together hits and beat up on several opposing pitchers, especially coming off a tough loss to begin the series<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

But it was Red Sox starting pitcher Ranger Suarez who set the tone in the first six frames with his first strong and quality start of the season.<\/p>\n

Suarez, 30, tossed a full six innings (84 pitches, 55 strikes) after pitching just 4.1 and 4.0 frames in his first two outings.<\/p>\n

Not only did the left-hander throw six innings, but they were six shutout innings. After allowing four earned runs in each of his first two starts, a goose egg from Suarez quieted some concerns about his shaky start after signing a five-year, $130 million contract with Boston this past winter.<\/p>\n

In the first inning, it felt like Suarez was destined for another rocky start. He tossed 27 pitches and allowed a leadoff single as well as two walks, but the Cardinals ultimately failed to capitalize. He induced a double play to get his first two outs, which aided him in keeping St. Louis\u2019 bats at bay.<\/p>\n

That first inning was the only real hiccup for Suarez. He settled into the game nicely the rest of the way, striking out six batters and allowing just three hits. Suarez\u2019s outing was much closer to what the organization and fans were expecting him to look like when the Red Sox landed him.<\/p>\n

Manager Alex Cora praised Suarez and his talent on the mound after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can pitch, man. It\u2019s pitchability,\u201d Cora said<\/a>. \u201cHe was able to execute. \u2026 It started with the mechanics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suarez\u2019s teammates took note of his dominant performance, including first baseman Willson Contreras. Contreras, who is also playing his first season in Boston and most recently played for the Cardinals, echoed Cora\u2019s sentiments about Suarez\u2019s pitch execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important for both sides, offensively and defensively, to have Ranger to throw six shutout innings,\u201d Contreras said<\/a>. \u201cI think the biggest thing for him tonight was executing \u2026 identifying the weakness of the batters. He did that tonight. That\u2019s the best game he\u2019s thrown so far yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boston has been desperate for starters not named Garrett Crochet and Sonny Gray to make it deeper into their outings. The bullpen was only needed for three innings Saturday, a nice change of pace for a group in need of a break.<\/p>\n

Cora emphasized the team\u2019s urgent need for quality starts from their rotation postgame. He said it\u2019s a major key for the 5-9 Red Sox moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made pitches. \u2026 It started with the mechanics,\u201d Cora said of Suarez. \u201cWe need him to go deep into games. If you look at what\u2019s happened the first few weeks of the season, when we pitch, we win games. When starters go deep into the game, we have a better chance at winning games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKaley Brown<\/a>Sports producer\t<\/p>\n

Kaley Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Red Sox Boston scored five runs in the ninth inning to even the weekend series in St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":673807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2403],"tags":[5,160,4,673,67,4311,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-673806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-cardinals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cardinals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-st-louis","12":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","13":"tag-stlouis","14":"tag-stlouiscardinals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116389931885797954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}