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.

Durbin walked and raced to third when Trevor Story’s single down the left-field line glanced off third baseman Josh Jung’s glove and rolled into foul territory. With third base left uncovered, Durbin aggressively took the extra base and the hustle paid off two batters later when reliever Jakob Junis balked while facing Mickey Gasper, allowing Durbin to score and giving Boston a 3-2 lead.

Bennett couldn’t preserve it the lead for his club and the left-hander was charged with the tying run after departing with two outs in the fifth. Greg Weissert entered and surrendered a bloop RBI single, leaving Bennett with a final line of three runs on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven.

It was still a significant improvement over Bennett’s previous start, when the Angels tagged him for six earned runs on nine hits, including three homers.

“Overall, not horrible...,” Tracy said. “The first inning, they were able to make him throw some pitches so the pitches stacked up on him. At the end of the day, he left with the lead, was competitive. 

“Usually, you’re accustomed to seeing him pitch deeper, but they were pesky with their at-bats, fouled a lot of stuff off and drove the count up.”

Bennett was one of the Sox' first-half anchors in the rotation, posting a 2.64 ERA over eight starts before the All-Star break. In the second half, the rookie left-hander has come back down to earth, recording a 4.65 ERA over 62 frames and earning just five quality starts in 11 outings. 

“The four-seam execution hasn’t been as good,” Bennett said to Sox' reporters in Arlington. “I’ve been up for a little while. Scouting report is out and these guys know what I’m trying to do. Just gotta be adjusting to their game plan and maybe try to mix in a little more of the sweeper like we did tonight.”

Rangers manager Skip Schumaker pieced together the game with his pitching staff, getting four-plus innings from Gore before using Junis as a bridge to former Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

“It felt almost like a closer coming into the game,” Schumaker said after the game. “You know that type of feeling in the ninth inning when the music goes on, and the lights go out, that type of feeling. But it was early in the game, you're just not used to feeling it. But I felt it.”

Eovaldi, continuing his buildup after missing time with elbow inflammation, effectively shut the door. He allowed one hit over four scoreless innings and needed just 46 pitches to finish the game.

It was Eovaldi's third career relief win and his first since Aug. 14, 2019, when he earned one against Cleveland as a member of the Red Sox. He retired the final 11 batters he faced, becoming the first Rangers hurler since Jamey Wright in 2007 to earn a win while throwing four scoreless to finish the game. 

Boston fans are all too familiar as to what "Big Game Nate," can bring to the table especially late in the season. 

The Red Sox also ran into some bad luck in the second. Durbin walked, stole second and advanced to third before Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined a 96 mph shot directly at Jung. Durbin had broken for home on contact, allowing Jung to step on third for an inning-ending double play.

Adley Rutschman continued to show his value behind the plate with three more successful ABS challenges. Rutschman is now 19-for-27 on challenges since joining Boston, a 70.3% success rate.

His struggles at the plate continued, however. Rutschman went 0-for-4 and is batting .184 (16-for-87) since joining the Red Sox. Overall as a team, Boston managed only three hits overall in the loss. 

“Yeah, we’re going through it a little bit,” Tracy said of his lineup. “We didn’t have a ton, we didn’t create a ton of opportunities.”

Boston has now played 37 games since the end of the remarkable 31-5 stretch that resurrected its season. The Red Sox are 18-19 since.

They’ll try to avoid a sweep Thursday night behind Sonny Gray (17-5, 2.76 ERA), who will make one of his final starts before the postseason. Texas has not announced a starter. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. ET.