The Texas Rangers are gaining momentum at the right time and will attempt to stretch their winning streak to four games when they face the visiting Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers kicked off a nine-game homestand by beating Boston 4-2 on Tuesday and could move into a tie for first place in the American League West with another victory and a Houston Astros loss to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. Texas trails Houston (76-75) by one game at the top of the division.
Starter Jacob deGrom said he’s still battling groin tightness, but struck out eight in five innings on Tuesday to earn the win. Boston (82-69) struck out 15 times in the loss.
“He did not feel 100 percent,” Texas manager Skip Schumaker said. “He gave us everything he had.”
Elias Diaz (two-run double) and Corey Seager (two-run single) supplied the Texas (75-76) offense. Diaz hit his two-run double on the eighth pitch of an at-bat against Boston starter Patrick Sandoval.
“That Diaz at-bat was just amazing,” Schumaker said. “For him to still stay on it, hit it down the line, two runs scored … just a fantastic at-bat.”
Other than Nick Sogard’s two-run home run, Boston didn’t produce much offense in Tuesday’s loss. The Red Sox left the bases loaded in the fifth and eighth innings.
“A chance in the fifth with second and third, one out, and then another chance there in the eighth,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “Every time we gave ourselves a couple opportunities to maybe hit a single and tie the game up, we just couldn’t do it.”
Boston went to the bullpen early and used four relievers after Sandoval allowed four runs in 2 2/3 innings. Sandoval threw 44 pitches in the second, when the Rangers did all of their scoring.
“Part of the reason we were able to be so aggressive was that so much of the bullpen was at five, six or seven days off,” Tracy said. “We were able to spread the load a little bit and not overextend anybody while also keeping options open.”
Wednesday’s probable pitchers are left-handers Jake Bennett (9-7, 3.69 ERA) for Boston and MacKenzie Gore (8-11, 4.62).
Gore allowed four runs on five hits in four-plus innings during his most recent start, a 9-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. All four runs charged to Gore came in the fourth inning, when the Diamondbacks hit four doubles. Gore is 0-1 with a 1.46 ERA in two career starts against the Red Sox.
Bennett, a rookie, gave up six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings during his last outing, a 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. He has not faced the Rangers.
“I felt good body-wise,” Bennett said following that start against the Angels. “I just felt like I didn’t have as good of command as I normally have. Left some balls over the middle of the plate and they got hit hard.”
Texas has a 25-19 record against left-handed starting pitchers this season.
-Field Level Media
