Tanner Houck’s summary of up the Red Sox’s finale against the Rangers was short and sweet.
“It’s baseball.”
Another way to describe it would be with the classic adage “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”…
Boston blew multiple leads — including a three-run advantage with two outs in the top of the ninth inning — while serving up five unanswered runs in an eventual 9-7 defeat in 10 innings that helped Texas avoid a three-game sweep.
“Good series win, good team win the past few days,” Houck said. “But flush this one, (we) can be frustrated tonight. But we’ve got to show up tomorrow and play the Orioles.”
More on the O’s and Houck’s outing in a minute, but first let’s do a little finger-pointing and dividing up of the blame pie for how things went so wrong in this one.
To sum it all up, David Hamilton and the bullpen royally blew it.
The Sox held leads of 2-1, 4-2 and 7-4, and it was the bumbling defense of shortstop Hamilton that cost them their 4-3 lead. He mishandled a completely playable two-out grounder in the eighth that would have gotten them on to the ninth after Adolis Garcia’s second solo bomb of the night earlier that inning.
All tied up! #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/ggnRtROGu2
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 15, 2024
As another tried and true adage goes: “Hamilton taketh, and Hamilton taketh away.”
That’s 10 errors on the season for Hamilton, for those keeping score. You’d have to think he will be a serious candidate for a DFA once Triston Casas returns (more on that… well, not now)…
But not to worry, Danny Jansen and Romy Gonzalez came to the rescue momentarily in the bottom of the eighth. Jansen ripped a go-ahead RBI single with two outs to un-tie it and Gonzalez brought in two more with his ensuing double.
On to Kenley for the save, right?
Nope. Boston’s 36-year-old closer was down after working a four-out save in Tuesday’s 9-4 win and also pitching the ninth in a tie game Monday.
No matter, Josh Winckowski’s just as good anyway, right?
Winck struggled out of the gate, allowing back-to-back singles before things started going his way with a foul out to first and a fielder’s choice to bring them one out away.
He fired in a 95-mph sinker for strike one before offering up a 91-mph cutter that Texas left fielder Wyatt Langford could not refuse.
Wyatt Langford comes up CLUTCH pic.twitter.com/nzZUXuAaJ7
— MLB (@MLB) August 15, 2024
Just like that, Langford deposited a ball in the Monster seats, and we were inevitably headed for some unrequested free baseball…
But again, no matter. In came Zack Kelly, who has been pretty reliable for the Sox this year. Maybe they would have a chance to get through this.
Again, nope. Jonah Heim had done his homework and was ready to jump on a first-pitch 91-mph cutter from Kelly that he sent into the bullpens.
Heim Time delivers in extras! #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/cDfjuZGUdu
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) August 15, 2024
“Well, I faced him the other night and he threw me some heaters up in the zone and a cutter, so I was really just looking to get (shot runner Ezequiel) Duran over to third there, try to put together a good team at-bat,” Heim told me. “He kind of hung me a cutter and I was able to get it just over the fence.”
That, as they say, was that.
“It’s part of it, right?,” Alex Cora said. “We’re still learning, we’re still growing as a group. That’s not an excuse, because we are better that that. But we’ve gotta learn from today and get better. We’ve gotta keep the ball in the ballpark.”
Good starts
Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Houck all gave us moments of encouragement during the series with the Rangers.
Boston’s three starters combined to pitch to a 3.50 ERA after allowing seven runs over 18 innings in the series.
Bello went six allowing just one run with four hits, three walks and five strikeouts. Crawford, of course, took a perfect game into the sixth inning before the wheels came off. He finished Tuesday’s outing having allowed four runs with three hits and one walk with four punch outs over 5 1/3.
“Was kind of on cruise control. I was able to execute some pitches, got some quick outs, and they were aggressive and I was able to take advantage of that,” Crawford said. “Then, you know, the sixth, ran into some trouble.”
On Wednesday, Houck put the finishing touches on a solid series for the rotation with 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball. He scattered six hits and walk two while recording three strikeouts in a no-decision.
That makes back-to-back quality starts for Houck after he tossed six innings of one-run ball with four hits last Friday against Houston.
“Feel like, you know, we’ve chipped away at it,” Houck said. “I got off the tracks for a little while, but that’s OK. It’s gonna happen in a full 162. But, you know, keep showing up, keep bouncing back each time.”
To see all three have outings that displayed varying signs of stability and improvement is encouraging after it seemed like at least two of the three in Crawford and Houck had hit a wall.
Perhaps Andrew Bailey has done it once again…
Big O’s
The Red Sox have their work cut out for them just to make the playoffs, back to two games behind Kansas City for the third AL wild card, and they’ll have plenty more if they’re still hoping to bridge the gap from third place to the top of the AL East.
Boston is 7 1/2 games back of division-leading New York and seven back of Baltimore, who the Sox visit for a four-game series to open a difficult seven-game road trip on Thursday.
Nick Pivetta gets the nod for the opener opposite trade deadline acquisition Zach Eflin for the O’s. He’s coming off an OK outing in Texas, where he allowed two runs on two hits with five strikeouts, but couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning while throwing
Pivetta has yet to face Baltimore this season, but owns a lifetime 8-2 record with a 3.18 ERA in 12 career starts against the O’s.
Friday’s game is TBD with Cooper Criswell still on the COVID IL and possibly needing more time. Bello is in line to start Saturday and Crawford gets the ball again on Sunday.
Things didn’t go very swimmingly for the Sox in their first two meetings with Baltimore this season — they’re 1-5 against them on the season. I wouldn’t expect that to change this time around, meaning a 1-3 series feels like the likeliest result.
A split would feel like an absolute win and probably keep them treading water a few games behind the Royals.
So, here’s to some .500 baseball in Baltimore…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.
