The Red Sox lost two of three games in their series against the Rangers, but in all honesty they should have been swept. While it may be unrealistic to expect to win a series in their ballpark, especially given that the Rangers are the hottest team in the league right now, I would have liked Boston to be a bit more competitive.
Game 1 was the only Sox win of the series, and it frankly has to be counted as a miracle victory. David Price had his worst start of the season and one of the worst of his career. Sin Soo Choo led of the game with a home run for Texas, and it went downhill from there. Price simply couldn't keep any of his pitches down, and the Rangers jumped all over him for 6 runs on 12 hits in just 2.1 innings. Honestly, it could have been even worse; Prince Fielder hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the first, enabling Price to limit the damage. However, down 6-0 in the 4th inning is not a place you want to be as a team, and most teams would roll over at that point. Not the Sox though. The first thing that enabled their comeback was great work out of the bullpen. Matt Barnes (2.2 IP), Tommy Layne (2 IP), Heath Hembree (1 IP) ad Koji Uehara (1 IP) kept the Rangers to just a single run once Price was gone, giving the Sox potent offense a chance to get back in the game.
Facing a big deficit, the only thing to do is chip away, and Boston did that through a pair of 2 run homers, one from Hanley Ramirez (who is really starting to heat up) and Jackie Bradley Jr. JBJ's was an absolute moonshot, getting into the upper deck in right center field. Jerry Remy talked a lot about the infamous jetstream that goes out to that part of the ballpark in Texas, and Bradley took advantage. Still, entering the 9th, Boston trailed 7-4, and the score was the same with 2 men out. Texas at that point had a win probability of 99.2%, but don't tell Sandy Leon that. Coming on as a pinch hitter, he put on the best at-bat of the game by far, fouling off several tough pitches before roping a double to left. That extended the game to Mookie Betts, who did this. The Sox would go on to take the lead on a wild pitch with David Ortiz at the plate, and Uehara struck out the side in the bottom half to complete the stunning comeback. Final score: Boston 8, Texas 7
Coming off of back-to-back wild wins, Boston had a ton of momentum going into Game 2. Unfortunately, they simply didn't play well in this one. Humid conditions are usually tough on knuckleball pitchers, and Steven Wright didn't have his best day. He gave up 3 runs in the 4th inning, but the wheels came off in the 5th. Bogaerts started the inning with an error, allowing Choo to reach. He was at 3rd with two outs when Adrian Beltre singled him in. After a Fielder single, Hanley Ramirez booted a grounder at 1st to load the bases. Wright struggled all night to throw strikes with his knuckler, and so with the count at 3-2 to Elvis Andrus, he had to throw a fastball to avoid the risk of walking in another run. Andrus jumped all over it, smashing it for a three run triple. All five of the runs the Rangers scored in the inning were unearned, but Wright simply had a tough night. Down by 6 runs for the second consecutive night, Boston couldn't rally this time and lost by a score of 10-3.
Game 3 featured another dose of Clay Buccholz, and his start was pretty typical of his season to this point. He has struggled all year with falling victim to One Bad Inning, often involving a multi-run homer. This time, he struggled right out of the gate, giving up 5 singles and a walk to the first 6 Ranger hitters. While Buccholz did get a double play to escape true disaster, he still gave up 3 runs and put the Sox behind the 8 ball for the 3rd consecutive game. Buccholz would settle down after that, but he gave up a lazer beam of a home run to Prince Fielder in the 6th, which chased him from the ballgame. He pitched 4 solid innings, but gave up 5 runs and didn't put the Sox in position to win the game. Classic fuckholz. Final Score: Texas 6, Boston 2
Up next is a three game set with the Rays in Tampa, so the Sox have a good chance to get out of the rut they have been in for all of June.
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