AL WILD CARD SERIES: RED SOX VS YANKEES

September 30, 2026

Ranger Suarez

Yankee Stadium

Boston Red Sox

Pregame Press Conference

Q. You have a reputation as being a big-game pitcher and coming up big in these types of moments. What about you kind of allows you to have success in these situations? What will be your mindset and approach for Game 3?

RANGER SUAREZ: I was just telling Marcos (phonetic), for me it's trying to enjoy the outing, enjoy the moment and having confidence in my team, having confidence in my defense behind me, in my offense. And at the end of the day you just try to treat it like a regular game and just go out there and perform.

Q. What does it mean to you to potentially have the opportunity to pitch in a do-or-die game tomorrow? Was this something that you had in mind when you signed with the Red Sox last offseason?

RANGER SUAREZ: First of all, we need to win today and then take it step by step, I think, today is a do-or-die game, like you said. So for me, just focus on tonight, give the best of the energy to the guys that are going to be out there trying to win the game today. That's what we wanted to do, and then we'll focus on tomorrow.

Q. As far as playing in the playoffs, then, what does it mean for you to be here today?

RANGER SUAREZ: As soon as you get to Spring Training, here's where you want to be. You want to be here in the playoffs to potentially play in the World Series and obviously summarize all the sacrifice that you go through the regular season to try to get to this point and try to play deep into October.

Q. Obviously at the beginning of the year, taking part in the WBC, you were around a series of games that were all elimination games. How much does momentum build when you are constantly playing with your season or in that case the WBC on the line? Does one game feed into another?

RANGER SUAREZ: Like you said, the WBC was, like, an elimination game pretty much every time you go out there. So I think that has to be our mindset going forward. We have to play with that mindset.

There's no margin for errors right now going forward. And now for us we just need to play like this might be our last game. And I think that's how we're going to confront the game tonight.

Q. (Not in English).

THE INTERPRETER: So he was talking about a Les Straker, the first Venezuelan-born player who pitched and win a World Series. He was a mentor for Ranger coming up with the Phillies from the summer league all the way up.

So he used to have meetings with him every single morning about ways to get better. Some of the advice that he said was like not to be a thrower, to be a pitcher.

And he also asked if he knew that he was the first Venezuelan player to throw in the World Series and win it. He's, like, he makes sure that we knew that he was that guy.

So a beautiful experience for him to be able to experience and obviously something that he takes with himself going forward.

Q. From a mental standpoint, how do you approach a game that is not a certainty to take place? Do you have the conviction that your team is going to win as you kind of go through today? How do you approach tomorrow from a preparation and mental standpoint?

RANGER SUAREZ: Obviously you have the confidence that your team is going to win today. I just want to treat it like a regular game, although we know that it's not a regular game, and we know it's a do-or-die game and an elimination game.

But I'll do the same that I do to prepare myself. I'll do the same that I do today, the day before my starts. And then hopefully we come up with a win tonight. And then I'll get to pitch that pivotal game tomorrow.