There is no other way to explain this game other than that the Miami Marlins felt like they owed the Boston Red Sox some sort of debt and decided to repay it by handing them a W on Monday night. How else can you make sense of what transpired at LoanDepot Park because the Red Sox really did not play well, yet somehow came away with their fourth win in a row.
Let’s begin with a comparison of the starting pitchers.
Ranger Suarez took the ball for Boston and displayed a style of pitching that would make Patrick Sandoval question whether this guy belonged on a Major League roster. Five innings, four hits, four walks, four strikeouts, 93 pitches, of which only 57 were strikes, yet somehow the Fish scored only one run off the beleaguered lefty. Oh, I’m sorry. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the two hit batters as well.
He allowed at least two men to reach base in every inning except the fourth, and it took a double play to prevent that from happening in that inning as well. In the second, he conceded a run without surrendering a hit, although there was contact made...twice, by Suarez pitches into the bodies of Marlins batters.
Each inning felt like some sort of twisted gift exchange where Ranger kept showing up at the Marlins’ front door with a present, only to walk away without actually giving it to them and somehow still carrying away a gift of his own.
In all, the Marlins were 2-18 with runners in scoring position in the game, but 0-10 in five innings against Suarez.
On the other side, Sandy Alcantara appeared to be in complete control of the Red Sox lineup and looked like a kid who never got that one present he was hoping for on his birthday, inning after inning. He went seven innings, allowing only one run while scattering six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. In three of the first four innings, Boston went down in order, and in the second, when they got the first two men on base, they squandered the opportunity.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning when the Great Mickey Gasper finally broke through against Alcantara with an RBI double that tied the score and breathed a little life into the Sox bench. For the next two innings, Boston managed a little more productivity with the bats, but the score remained 1-1 because the Red Sox were very poor houseguests and refused to score with the bases loaded and only one out in the seventh.
After Chad Tracy relieved our suffering by removing Suarez from the game after five, he brought in “Bullpen” Bryan Bello, who looked good in his first inning but slipped up a little in his second.
He allowed a leadoff double and then walked a batter to put two on with no outs. He managed to strike out the next hitter, thank you for not bunting, Miami. Only to walk the following batter and load the bases.
After getting ahead 0-2, Bello gave up a single to Xavier Edwards that, had the infield been playing back, might have been a rather easy double play. Instead, it was a base hit, and Miami was up 2-1.
The next batter hit a line drive right at Contreras, who was handcuffed and dropped it but recovered in time to force the runner at the plate. When the next man grounded out to end the inning, it somehow felt like another present from Florida to have escaped that disaster still within a run.
By the eighth, it became pretty obvious that Miami had no intention of allowing the Boston Red Sox to leave their stadium that night without a victory.
Men on first and third with one out, and Caleb Durbin showed bunt on the first pitch. That must have been some sort of sign to the pitcher to give it away because the next pitch was so far from the catcher that he might have been trying to throw it to the ballboy near the on-deck circle. Abreu came in to score on “Old Faithful,” the wild pitch, and the game was tied again.
In the bottom of the eighth, Jarren Duran, who is from California but must have some connection to Florida and this silly gift-giving tradition, decided he would get in on the act. He allowed a simple two-bounce single to left to turn into a Keystone Cops skit as the ball clanged off his glove and behind him. He whirled around and scampered after it, “Angry Lizard” style, before quickly throwing it in using his Iron Mike throwing motion. (If you’ve never seen it, look it up. Trust me.)
The runner was initially called out, but video replay showed that although he was tagged square in the face, his hand got in safely.
Yet again, the Marlins refused to look that gift horse in the mouth and failed to score with men on the corners and one out.
To the ninth, and “Mantle” came to the rescue again. He drew a leadoff walk and was pinch-run for by The Flash, I mean Eli White.
Now, tie game, man on, no outs in the top of the ninth, and you have the nine hitter coming to the plate. Sitting in your bullpen is the Cuban Missile, just waiting to launch in the land of Little Havana. Makes perfect sense to play the vaunted small ball here, right?
Nope. Screw it. Swing away, Seigler!
And so he did, at a 1-1 pitch up around his shoulders. The swing legitimately looked like one my kid used to take with her net while running around the house trying to catch butterflies. But then came yet another example of Southern hospitality. Two pitches later, instead of continuing to pump cheese up in the zone, he delivered a nice spinning slider down and in that, if you listened carefully, you could hear it humming the tune to “Happy Birthday.” Seigler dropped the barrel of the bat, and down the line it went for a triple. Boston was up 3-2.
Sogard delivered an insurance run with a single, because that’s what he does lately, and cue Chad Tracy pressing the launch button.
Chapman took it from there.
4-2 Sox win. Thanks for coming. Please enjoy your parting gifts.
We Are All Dumber for Having Watched It
Please allow me to paraphrase Billy Madison as I try to describe what Ranger Suarez made us endure on Monday night.
Going into the game, most of Red Sox Nation was excited to see if Ranger could get himself back into form as we head down the stretch toward the playoffs. In the offseason, once Craig Breslow’s Plans A, B, C, and D all went the way of the dodo, we were gifted a nice, fat free-agent contract for Ranger Suarez. We were told he is a big-game pitcher and that we’re going to love him in the playoffs. I sure hope we get there because this guy has a lot of making up to do!
This outing had the complete opposite effect from the Bennett start when it comes to the faith Red Sox fans have in them going down the stretch.
For those of you lucky enough not to have seen his outing Monday night, the only way I can describe it is Dice-K-like, but without the power pitching. Nibble, nibble, nibble...Oh, come on, man. Throw the ball!
Never Look a Gift Fish in the Mouth
Yes, the Red Sox came out on top, and ultimately, that is the end game. But this game was a horror show and demonstrated just how thin the line between success and failure can be.
Boston was 1-14 with runners in scoring position. If Miami didn’t go 2-18, this really should have been a loss.
Boston made a critical error late in the game that gave the Marlins a golden opportunity, yet they couldn’t capitalize on it. This really should have been a loss.
At a crucial point in the game, the strategy the Sox have so successfully employed was abandoned, yet somehow the move worked out anyway. This really should have been a loss.
I think you get the message.
We all know the American League stinks in general, but we have heard so much about how much better the National League is. The Marlins are over .500 and only a few games out of the Wild Card in the National League. They’re better than this. At least I think they are.
If the Red Sox expect to go into the Bronx and do what needs to be done to send a message, they can’t afford to continue playing with this type of effort.
We expect more from the team, but I hope they didn’t forget their manners and at least said thank you to the Marlins for everything they did for them Monday night!
Image courtesy of https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2026/08/24/anthony-seigler-hits-go-ahead-triple-in-9th-and-red-sox-beat-marlins-4-2/