Red Sox let another one slip away in 7-3 loss to Rangers

For the second straight night, the Red Sox had a chance to take control of a game in Texas. This time, it was their bullpen that let it slip away.

Erik Miller endured his worst outing since joining Boston, allowing three runs in the seventh inning as the Rangers broke a tie and handed the Red Sox a 7-3 loss Wednesday night at Globe Life Field.

Boston (82-70) has dropped the first two games of its final road trip and is 7-7 in September. The Red Sox’ postseason magic number remained at five after Texas and Toronto both won, while the loss officially eliminated Boston from contention for the American League East title.

The Red Sox still hold a 6 1/2-game advantage over Texas and sit five games ahead of the White Sox in the wild-card race.

Wednesday’s game was tied, 3-3, when Miller took over in the seventh and the left-hander had been one of Boston’s most reliable bullpen additions since being acquired at the trade deadline, entering with a 1.20 ERA and only nine hits allowed over 15 innings. But his command betrayed him against the Rangers.

Miller hit Corey Seager with a pitch and walked Jake Burger, setting up a left-on-left matchup with Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo won it, driving an RBI double that put Texas ahead, 4-3.

Entering Wednesday, Miller had issued five free passes against five strikeouts over his first 3 1/3 innings of September. After the game, Miller told reporters that he’s been working through some mechanical issues. 

“Just not doing what I’ve been doing well,” Miller said. “Not getting ahead of guys, falling behind counts, getting into hitter’s counts. Doesn’t really matter. If a guy knows what’s coming, it usually doesn’t end as well. Just kinda working through some stuff right now.” 

With Justin Slaten's season likely over and Tyron Guerrero working through minor setback, Miller has taken on a increasingly important role in the Red Sox' bullpen, emerging as Chad Tracy's preferred bridge to Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman.  

Two batters later, Ezequiel Duran delivered the bigger blow, lining a two-run single into left with two outs to extend the lead to three. A wayward throw home by Roman Anthony compounded the trouble for the Sox. Texas added another run in the eighth when Seager singled home a run against Raymond Burgos.

The late collapse wasted an early spark from All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras.

Contreras entered Wednesday without a home run in nearly a month after a nagging hamstring injury slowed him throughout August and eventually landed him on the injured list.

After successfully challenging a called strike, Contreras waited on a hanging slider from MacKenzie Gore and drove it into the left-field seats at 106 mph for a two-run homer. It was his 27th of the season and gave Boston an immediate 2-0 lead.

“First-inning homer, that’s always good,” Contreras said. “It’s even better if we win.”

Contreras is no stranger to facing Gore, the two saw each other quite a bit when Contreras was with the Cubs and Gore was pitching for the Nationals. 

"I know him well and I know that he always makes one or two errors in a game, so I am always trying to be ready for that error, like today," Contreras said. "I wasn't looking for that pitch, I was just looking for him to miss his spot in the middle."

Boston turned to Jake Bennett on Tuesday night and the rookie allowed three hits, including two doubles, to the first four hitters he faced in the bottom of the first but managed to limit the Rangers to one run.

Bennett continued to battle traffic throughout an uneven outing. Justin Foscue tied the game with an RBI single in the fourth before Boston briefly reclaimed the lead in the fifth thanks largely to Caleb Durbin.