Ranger Suarez scattered three hits over six scoreless innings and Willson Contreras went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 7-1 victory over the host St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.
It was the first win in three starts for Suarez (1-1), who made headlines by signing a five-year, $130 million free-agent contract with Boston in January. Suarez walked two, struck out six and retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced.
Jarren Duran went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run, Marcelo Mayer reached base three times with a single and two walks and Carlos Narvaez had two hits and scored a run for Boston, which won for the third time in four games.
Jordan Walker hit his major league-leading sixth home run for St. Louis, which had a three-game win streak snapped. Kyle Leahy (1-2) suffered the loss, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks over four innings while striking out two.
Boston took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Roman Anthony led off with a walk and advanced to second on a one-out single by Duran. Contreras, who spent the last three seasons with St. Louis, followed with a double into the left field corner, driving in Anthony and Duran.
The Red Sox had a chance to extend the lead in the seventh, loading the bases with one out on a walk to Mayer, a single by Narvaez and a hit batter by Rafaela. But reliever Justin Bruihl came in and struck out Anthony and got Caleb Durbin to fly out to end the threat.
St. Louis cut the lead to 2-1 in the eighth when Walker smashed a 429-foot home run onto the grassy berm in dead center off reliever Garrett Whitlock, his fifth homer in the last seven games.
Boston broke the game open with a five-run, six-hit ninth against reliever Matt Svanson, highlighted by a two-run single by Durbin and RBI singles by Rafaela, Duran and Contreras.
