May 26 at Fenway Park provided a disappointing outcome for Ranger Suarez and the Boston Red Sox, who lost 7-6 to the Atlanta Braves despite getting off to a hot start in the first inning with back-to-back homers from Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela.
Suarez was solid through four innings (zero runs allowed), but faltered in the fifth when he gave up a two-run shot to Matt Olson. Suarez then allowed three more base runners, each of whom ended up scoring to the detriment of his ERA. All in all, Suarez allowed five earned runs in five innings of work — far from his best outing of the season.
There was also an embarrassing moment for Suarez in the second inning when he decided to challenge a pitch that wasn't anywhere close to the strike zone. You know how everyone around MLB jokes that pitchers shouldn't be allowed to challenge? Well, this was a perfect example of why.
The NESN broadcast captured a hilarious still of Red Sox catcher Mickey Gasper staring straight ahead in bewilderment/disappointment that Suarez had just initiated such an awful challenge.
Ranger Suarez may have executed worst challenge of the Red Sox's season against Braves
Hopefully, Suarez's gaffe doesn't lead to a new, glaring weakness for the Red Sox with the ABS system. Boston has already figured out plenty of ways to lose baseball games this season, and the Red Sox's margin of error can't really afford to take on bad ABS management.
Or ... maybe we're already there. According to Baseball Savant, the Red Sox have only had 14 successful ABS overturns while batting (29th in MLB) and 16 while fielding (last in MLB). On the other hand, there are 20 MLB teams that have lost more challenges while batting than Boston, and 25 teams that have lost more challenges while fielding.
In sum, the Red Sox aren't great at challenging, but at least they're not overdoing it. That philosophy didn't apply to Suarez on Tuesday night, however, and you could see it written all over Gasper's face.
Despite the ugly moment, Suarez is still having a good season for Boston thus far. His 53 2/3 innings pitched are second only to Connelly Early on the Red Sox, and his 0.8 WAR are second only to Aroldis Chapman's 1.0 WAR on Boston's entire pitching staff.
Especially with Garrett Crochet out, the Red Sox need Suarez to stay healthy and keep dealing. And he's way too wily a veteran to make that grievous of an ABS error again ... right?
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