The limp to October goes on for the Boston Red Sox, who blew an early 2-0 lead Wednesday night, and dropped the series in Texas with a 7-3 loss that improved the Rangers to 76-76.
Boston batters managed just three hits, their runs coming via Willson Contreras’ first-inning two-run homer and Caleb Durbin scoring on a balk in the fifth.
Early on, it looked like both starting pitchers were not going to last long.
Rangers lefty MacKenzie Gore began Wednesday’s game with a four-pitch walk, three of which were nowhere near the zone, to Red Sox leadoff man Roman Anthony, and gave up Contreras’ team-leading 27th homer.
Sox rookie southpaw Jake Bennett labored through a 26-pitch bottom of the first in which he faced six batters and gave up a run.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Jake Bennett attempts to reach an infield single by Texas Rangers’ Danny Jansen in the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
But after a second-inning delay in which it seemed like Gore was about to depart, he completed four innings. Bennett went 4 2/3. Both starters allowed three earned runs, though Gore only yielded two hits to Bennett’s eight.
“Overall, not horrible,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters of Bennett. “The first inning they were able to make him throw some pitches, so the pitches stacked up on him. But at the end of the day, he left with the lead, was competitive. … Usually you’re accustomed to see him pitching deeper, but they were pesky with their at-bats, fouled a lot of stuff off, and drove the count up.”
The Red Sox retook the lead on Jakob Junis’ fifth-inning balk. It evaporated for good one pitch into Greg Weissert’s appearance when he took over for Bennett in the bottom of the inning.
Erik Miller’s three-run blowup seventh inning was the unnecessary coup de grâce for a Red Sox team struggling to so much as collect a hit, much less score a run. But it marked Miller’s worst outing of the season, with Boston or San Francisco, and his third time allowing runs in his last six appearances.
“Just not doing what I’ve been doing well, just not getting ahead of guys, falling behind counts, getting into hitters counts,” a subdued Miller told reporters postgame. “I mean, doesn’t really matter how good your stuff is; guy knows what’s coming, it usually doesn’t end as well.”
“Just kind of working through some stuff right now,” Miller continued. “There’s some stuff (I’m) trying to clean up a little bit on the mechanical side. … At some point throughout the year, stuff crops up. And I’d been doing really well, and some bad habits kind of fallen back into. So yeah, just got to work through it, kind of get back to what I was doing, and go from there.”
2018 World Series hero Nathan Eovaldi closed out the win with four shutout innings against his former team. It marked the veteran righty’s first relief appearance since 2020: Game 4 of the 2021 ALCS with the Red Sox.
To add insult to the injury of Boston’s decision not to re-sign Eovaldi following the 2022 season, his 46 wins since 2023 are tied for second-most among all American League pitchers in that span.
Trevor Story’s infield single in the fifth and Nick Sogard’s pinch-hit single in the sixth comprised the rest of Boston’s hits. The lineup managed three walks and struck out three times in the contest. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and left three men on base.
“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.”
Game highlights were few and far between for the Red Sox. The short list included the usual elite defense from right fielder Wilyer Abreu, who is all but guaranteed to win his third consecutive Gold Glove Award, and continued displays of ABS expertise by new catcher Adley Rutschman, who went 3 for 3 in challenges.
The Red Sox have lost five of their last seven games since their five-game win streak. They are 7-7 in September, 10-11 in their last 20 games, and 82-70 overall.
Their magic number to clinch a postseason spot is five. But there is little magic lately.