Eugenio Suárez’s big day powered the Diamondbacks to a 7-5 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park, completing the series sweep. Suárez collected four more hits, including a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth, putting his series total to eight hits, two home runs, and 10 RBI.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“I like it a lot, I see the ball really well,” Suárez told Jody Jackson in the postgame interview on DbacksTV. “Playing great in Fenway Park is always fun, is always different. I got a big series, I feel good.”
Since July 1, no player in Major League Baseball has more than his 47 RBI. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a player who horribly struggled for the first three months of the season. He’s been a key batter that’s kept the lineup afloat in the absence of Ketel Marte, Christian Walker, and Gabriel Moreno.
The Diamondbacks offense struggled to put at-bats together early against Red Sox All-Star right-hander Tanner Houck. While Houck wasn’t sharp early, he got the help of three double plays to keep Arizona off the scoreboard in the first four innings. However, they still kept putting pressure on him and finally got to him in the fifth.
Loading the bases with no outs on a single and two walks, the Diamondbacks scratched out their first two runs on a slow tapper to first base and a sacrifice fly to left field. Jake McCarthy added an RBI single to cut the deficit to one run. It was huge, as the Red Sox had scored three runs the previous inning.
“The innings were built with real good approaches, and we just kept plugging away, we kept fighting.” said manager Torey Lovullo on DbacksTV. “The key at-bat for me was the [Luis] Guillorme at-bat. We asked him to bunt, he was patient, he saw the ball, and then we had the bases loaded. We tacked on two run because we situationally hit very well.”
Following a scoreless fifth from Merrill Kelly, Arizsona landed the haymaker on Houck. Pavin Smith rolled a ground ball into center and Adrian Del Castillo drew his second walk in as many innings to set up Suárez to put up a crooked number. He jumped on the first pitch, a sweeper on the outer third and hit it off a light tower over the Green Monster to put the Diamondbacks up 6-4.
Geno is killing the Red Sox this weekend. That 3-run homer gives him 7 hits and 10 RBI and the #Dbacks a 6-4 lead. pic.twitter.com/rwArGS4NA3
— Burn City D-backs Talk????️ (@BurnCityDbacks) August 25, 2024
“I know that with men in scoring position, he maybe doesn’t want to throw that fastball and I was ready for the breaking ball,” said Suárez. “He threw it right there in the middle and I was ready for that one.”
It wasn’t a great game for Merrill Kelly, but he battled tough for six innings and earned his fourth win of the season. He got clipped for a couple of home runs by Triston Casas and Rafael Devers, putting himself in a 4-0 hole. However, those homers did not define his start, as he dug deep and found a way to hold them there.
“It wasn’t an easy day, falling down 4-0 with Merrill on the mound,” said Lovullo. “He had to right the ship, he did, had a couple shutdown innings.”
The key at-bats that defined Kelly’s day came in the fifth inning. He walked Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu to open the inning with the two guys that got him coming up, but retired Casas on a shallow fly ball to center and induced an inning-ending double play from Devers. That double play was huge as it preceded Suárez’s big homer.
After the Diamondbacks took the lead, Kelly had a conversation with Lovullo, challenging him to get three more outs. The right-hander struck out two of the final three hitters to finish his shaky start on a strong note. He finished off Connor Wong with a 92.6 MPH fastball on his 101st and final pitch. Those extra three outs came up huge, as it allowed Lovullo to maneuver to the bullpen easier.
Arizona’s bullpen closed out the game, with Joe Mantiply getting another big double play to end the seventh. A.J. Puk faced the middle of Boston’s lineup, striking out Rob Refsnyder, Casas, and Devers as the perfect epitome of how the series went. Justin Martinez served up a solo home run to Tyler O’Neill, who sliced a fly ball past Pesky Pole, but then retired the next three hitters to close out the sweep.
Next Game
The Diamondbacks will return to Arizona and get ready for arguably their biggest homestand of the season to date. They’ll play the New York Mets with the chance to bury their Wild Card competition, then take on the Los Angeles Dodgers with the National League West division title possibly on the line. Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (2-0, 3.94 ERA) will go for Arizona while left-hander Sean Manaea (9-5, 3.48 ERA) starts for New York. First pitch at Chase Field will be at 6:40 P.M. MST on Tuesday.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
