BOSTON — In the midst of a down season for the Red Sox and their fans, those heading to Fenway Park on Saturday could be in for a treat in the form of an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel.
Ranger Suarez takes the ball for Boston. And on the bump for the Texas Rangers, one of the best pitchers in the last 15 years, Jacob deGrom.
The late afternoon contest is quite the response from Fenway, on a day that also marks the start of the FIFA World Cup in Boston.
Matches are 22 miles south in Foxborough, but the city and surrounding communities will become host to millions of people from all over the world.
It’s just the second time deGrom will pitch in Boston. His lone appearance came in September of 2018. The soon-to-be-named Cy Young fanned 12 Sox hitters over seven innings. This was a Sox team that won the World Series 42 days later.
He struck out that year’s MVP Mookie Betts, twice. 8 of the 9 starting players went down at least once. Boston went on to win 4-3 after a sac-fly in the 8th.
Since debuting with the Mets in 2014, no one in baseball has a lower earned run average (ERA) among qualified starting pitchers.
deGrom defended his 2018 Cy Young title, winning it again in 2019. In 2020, a pandemic-shortened season resulted in only 12 starts. He led the league in punchouts and finished 3rd in Cy Young voting.
An injury ended deGrom’s 2021 campaign before it could fully unfold, halting a season that was on pace to rank among the greatest ever by a starting pitcher. From April to just before the All-Star break, deGrom was 8-2 with a 1.08 ERA over 92 innings. He struck out 146 and walked just 11. He went 12 consecutive starts allowing a combined 4 earned runs.
2022 wasn’t much different - domination, but only over 11 starts due to injury. After being traded to the Rangers in 2023, he pitched in just 6 games. Then 3 in 2024. He’s had Tommy John surgery twice.
But deGrom bounced back in 2025, making all 30 of his starts and finishing 8th in Cy Young voting. It’s been more of the same so far this year. He enters Saturday with a 3.18 ERA over 13 starts, paired with 84 strikeouts to 15 walks.
The soon to be 38-year-old notched his 100th career win earlier this month and he’s 65 strikeouts away from 2,000.
Not giving up runs is the name of the game, and arguably no one has done a better job than deGrom. Over the course of his 261 career starts, he’s given up 1 or fewer earned runs in 135 of those starts - a staggering 52%. He’s allowed 2 earned runs or fewer in 71% of all starts, which spans 13 seasons.
It starts with not allowing base runners. deGrom holds the Major League Baseball record for the highest strikeouts-to-walks ratio. The statistic translates to hitters having a far more likelihood of seeing three strikes than four balls.
Both he and Ranger Suarez, who’s putting together a good season in his own right, enter Saturday with matching 3.18 ERAs. Mid-August-like temperatures, paired with the madness of the World Cup, and a pitching showdown in the oldest stadium in the sport has the makings for a memorable day.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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