Ranger Suárez Notches Red Sox Feat Not Seen Since Jon Lester

The southpaw was absolutely dealing...

Apr 27, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) delivers a pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays in the second inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Monday night was the epitome of why the Boston Red Sox spent $130 million on Ranger Suárez.

Facing the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays, Suárez pitched with his hair on fire. He went eight scoreless innings for the second time in three starts, but unlike his other gem against the Detroit Tigers, he was sending hitters back to the dugout with a "K" next to their names in the scorebook.

Suárez punched out 10 Blue Jays batters on Monday, two off his career-high. He also allowed just one hit, a Jesús Sánchez double in the sixth inning. That stat line, as it turns out, led to some pretty cool Red Sox history.

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Ranger Suárez matches impressive Jon Lester criteria

Jul 29, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester walks out of the batting cage prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Credit to Gabrielle Starr of the Boston Herald, who pointed out on Monday that Suárez was the first Boston pitcher to go at least eight scoreless innings, allow one hit or less, and strike out 10 or more batters since former Boston great Jon Lester.

On May 3, 2014, Lester struck out a career-best 15 Oakland Athletics and allowed only one hit in his eight shutout innings. Perhaps it wasn't a surprise, then, that the A's wound up trading for him at that year's deadline as they tried to make a run at an American League West title.

Starr also pointed out that the last Red Sox pitcher to allow one hit or fewer in eight-plus scoreless innings with any number of strikeouts was Eduardo Rodríguez in September of 2016.

Though there was a bad start against the New York Yankees sandwiched in between his two gems, it's becoming clear that Suárez has settled down since his rocky spring training and early regular season with his new team. The 2024 All-Star could challenge for the same honor this year if he keeps rattling off long, scoreless outings.

And at a time when the Red Sox have been mired in internal chaos with the firings of manager Alex Cora and half of his coaching staff, it had to feel good for the clubhouse to get such a dominant performance and notch the first three-game winning streak of the year.