Rangers - 420 000 000 - 6 9 1 Red Sox - 130 110 10x - 7 9 1The Red Sox hit a season-high five home runs and defeated the Rangers on Thursday night, after David Price (1.1-5-6-1-2, 49) turned in his worst game of the year, allowing eight of his 12 batters to reach base. Seven relievers from the Boston bullpen combined for 7.2 shutout innings.
Jackie Bradley cracked a three-run dong in the second inning, his sixth homer of the season igniting a spark of hope in what had looked like a lot like a Texas rout. The other four homers were solo shots from J.D. Martinez (#13 in the first inning), Michael Chavis (#11 in the fourth), Rafael Devers (#10 in the fifth), and Xander Bogaerts (#14 in the seventh).
It took Price 27 pitches to record his first out. He hit Shin-Soo Choo, walked Delino DeShields, and gave up a run-scoring single to Elvis Andrus. After a mound visit, Hunter Pence drove a ball to deep right, where it hit on top of the short wall to the right of the bullpens and caromed straight into the air. Mookie Betts caught it and Pence (after a review of the play) had a double and the Rangers led 2-0. Price got two outs and, with a 1-2 count on Logan Forsythe (thanks to a gift call from plate umpire Jordan Baker), was one strike away from escaping any additional damage. But Forsythe lined a single to left for two more runs.
Price got one out in the second before hitting Choo again. (Choo did not hit a fair ball all day, but was on base five times, and went 0-for-1: HBP, HBP, BB, K, BB, BBI.) DeShields doubled high off the wall in left and Andrus brought both runners in with a hard groundball single into left. Andrus's two hits in two innings raised his career average against Price to .490 (24-for-49) (a NESN graphic gave his average as .500, but that was (surprise!) wrong).
The Red Sox relievers allowed only four hits in 7.2 innings, but it wasn't always pretty because they also walked eight batters. Colten Brewer took the mound in the fourth and franked his first batter to load the bases, but then he got a popup from Asdrubal Cabrera to get out of the jam. Cabrera also helped out Marcus Walden in the sixth by flying to left, after the Rangers had hit two two-out singles.
With the game tied 6-6, Brandon Workman loaded the bases in the seventh on a single and two walks and, with two outs, fell behind DeShields 3-0 before getting two called strikes and a swinging strike three. Bogaerts's home run gave Boston a 7-6 lead, which Matt Barnes preserved by fanning Danny Santana with a runner on third to end the eighth.
Josh Smith, charged with saving the game in the ninth, had the potential tying run on second with one out. Pinch-hitter Nomar Mazara struck out looking and Smith nearly picked Rougned Odor off second (a review of the play upheld the initial safe call). Smith walked Choo intentionally to face DeShields - who swung at a 1-1 pitch and flied harmlessly to left. (One of the Rangers' TV announcers boldly (and stupidly) predicted (based on absolutely nothing, as far as I could surmise) DeShields would hit a two-run triple down the right field line.)
AL East: The Yankees blew a 4-0 lead and lost to the White Sox 5-4. The Rays lost to the Angels 5-3 as Shohei Ohtani became the first Japanese-born player to hit for the cycle (3-run HR in the first, double in the third, triple (and a run scored) in the fifth, single in the seventh). Boston is now 6.5 GB.
Betts, RFDavid Price has a 1.88 ERA in his last nine starts (since April 14). Price's season ERA of 2.70 would be 6th-lowest in the American League, but he does not have enough innings to qualify; he needs 69 (one inning pitched per team game), but has only 60.
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, DH
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Vázquez, C
Bradley, CF
Chavis, 1B
Hernández, 2B
AL East: MFY –, TBR 0.5, BOS 7.5. ... Angels/Rays, 7 PM. MFY/White Sox, 8 PM.
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