The Red Sox entered the game having just swept the Yankees. They faced the Nationals who have one of the best offenses in baseball, but who have the same run differential coming into Monday’s game as the Red Sox (+5). Ranger Suarez looked to continue Boston’s streak of pitching that has been absolutely nails in this hot streak.
James Wood didn’t waste any time getting out of the park – three pitches, to be exact. This is a daunting way to start against the offense with the most runs scored in 2026.
But, Ranger would then meet nine consecutive batters with a first pitch strike and stayed clean. Even when that streak ended in the fourth inning, he struck out two and got out of the inning unscathed.
It also didn’t take long for the Red Sox to answer, when Willson Contreras hit a ball waaaay back for his 18th home run of the season. It was incredible to see him overcome with emotion given everything happening in his home country right now. And no sooner did I type that than Caleb Durbin also took a Mikolas pitch into the Monster. Before the Nationals even recorded five outs, the Red Sox had five runs to go with eight hits. Nikolas would hang in there for seven innings even despite giving up six runs, so it was a resilient start, and I’m sure the Nationals didn’t mind him staying in for 100 pitches saving the bullpen.
And of course, as umpires do, they ruined the whole game’s mood by later ejecting Contreras, who had made a positive headline with his emotions, following the REPREHENSIBLE and UNTHINKABLE (note the obvious sarcasm) crime of tapping his helmet mimicking an ABS challenge in dismay of being rung up on a third strike. I mean, have we EVER had an umpire eject someone based on a first base ruling on a swing? To make matters worse, in the top of the seventh, the crew chief needed to come in relief of the crew to check the count. Guess umpires can’t count to four? When robots do finally take over officiating this game, it won’t be too soon.
The game continued to be 6-1 until Suarez ran into some real trouble when the Nationals got a bit more patient and drove in a few runs. But Suarez got out of the jam and continued the trend of the rotation always giving the team a chance to win (we won’t talk about the rest of the team itself, though). The Red Sox now have twelve straight quality starts.
But, of course, this is the dynamic National’s offense, so at 6-3 the game was far from over. Luckily, Danny Coulombe and the Red Sox got the benefit of that disgraceful umpiring and got the benefit of a ground ball turned into a double play to get out of the seventh. After a rough night against his former team in the pinstripes, Aroldis Chapman had the night off as Garrett Whitlock came in to slam the door. Nationals manager Blake Butera threw the kitchen sink at Whitlock with two pinch hitters, but the door was indeed slammed. The Red Sox are now winners of six of their last seven (six seven, six seven), eight of their last eleven, five straight, are nine games under 500 and even less of a step below whatever we consider to be a fight for the last playoff slots in a year when a sub-.500 record might capture a dance in October. (But hey, let’s still be realistic, right?)
Three Studs
Ranger Suarez: 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 K
Willson Contreras: 1-2, HR and a funny helmet tap.
Anthony Seigler: 2-3, 2B, R. Kyle Harrison may be awesome this year, but I kinda like this guy and Durbin!
Two Duds:
Jarren Duran: 0-4, 2 K.
Even this is being nitpicky given that he came through last night and the strikeouts were inconsequential, anyway.
And, of course, the umps (namely, Nic Lentz) who really showed their ass tonight. Luckily, it didn’t really become a factor in this one.
Play of the Game:
I mean, how can it not be that Contreras home run? Especially given the yell for his home directly after. Cool stuff. Durbin’s home run was a close second. “Home Run Durbin” really is different guy offensively in the last month, to pair with his very serviceable defensive play.
