Heim Homers Twice as Rangers Beat Red Sox

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

March 28, 2025

Rangers 4, Red Sox 1

ARLINGTON, Texas (Mar 28) — The Texas Rangers netted their first victory of 2025, beating the Boston Red Sox, 4–1, on Friday night. Half of the Rangers’ offense in this one came from Jonah Heim, who blasted two solo homers. The Rangers will try to take a 2–1 series lead on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Right-hander Walker Buehler will toe the slab for the Red Sox, while Tyler Mahle will get the ball for the Rangers.

Heim Time

The Rangers scored first in the bottom of the third off Red Sox starter Tanner Houck. Heim led off the inning with a solo blast to right. It marked his first of the year as well as the Rangers’ first homer of the year.

The Red Sox evened the score in the top of the fourth with Jack Leiter on the mound for the Rangers. After Triston Casas grounded back to Leiter, Trevor Story hit an infield single that was out of the reach of Josh Jung at third. Story stole second moments later and advanced to third on a single to center by Kristian Campbell. On deck was Wilyer Abreu, who plated Story with another single to center.

The Rangers regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Heim’s second dinger of the evening, another solo shot to right. Thursday marks the second multi-homer game of Heim’s career, matching his two-tater effort on July 31, 2021 against the Seattle Mariners.

The Rangers scored two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Wyatt Langford led off with a single to left. Up next was Joc Pederson, who singled to center. Langford tried going for third on the play but was tagged out on a great throw from Ceddanne Rafaela in center. The Rangers challenged, but the call was upheld.

Two batters later, Jake Burger drove in Pederson with a double to left, making it 3–1 Rangers. This brought Red Sox manager Alex Cora out to the mound to bring in reliever Greg Weissert. On deck was Jung, who plated Burger with a single to center. Jung later left the game in the eighth with neck stiffness.

What Went Right for the Rangers

The Rangers had a little bit of everything working for them on Thursday night in front of a crowd of 26,766. Heim had his great night, but Leiter and the bullpen held it together to secure the win as well. No player or manager ever takes it for granted when things operate like they did for the Rangers on Thursday.

What Went Wrong for the Rangers

The Rangers were in control from the fourth inning on. Their only setback came when Abreu hit his RBI single that allowed Story to cross the dish.

First Career Win for Leiter

Rangers starter Jack Leiter earned his first major league victory in his 10th career appearance and seventh career start, matching a career-high with five innings pitched. His final line was 5 H, 1 R-ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 82 pitches/49 strikes.

At 24 years, 341 days old, Leiter became the youngest pitcher to start one of the Rangers’ first two games in a season since Martín Pérez (22 years, 362 days old) started the second game of the 2014 season on April 1, 2014 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Right-hander Luke Jackson earned his first save of the year after setting the Red Sox down 1–2–3 in the top of the ninth.

Houck’s Evening

Red Sox starter Tanner Houck shouldered the loss on Thursday after allowing four runs, all earned, in 5 2/3 innings. His line was 7 H, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 89 pitches/55 strikes. Through four frames, he had allowed only one run on two hits, but yielded Heim’s second homer in the fifth and two more runs in the sixth.

The AL leader in home runs allowed per 9 since 2020, Houck permitted multiple long balls in a start only twice in 2024. The right-hander has now allowed multiple round-trippers in two of his four starts against the Rangers, moving to 0–2 with a 5.55 ERA in his career against them.

Bochy’s Postgame Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy reflected on Leiter’s performance. “He can win up here, that’s what I hope he takes from this game,” Bochy said. “He can get through a tough lineup, which they have, and that should really do a lot for his confidence with what he did tonight. We lost last night. We needed to win tonight. He came through for us. That’s what he should remember.”

Leiter’s Postgame Comments

Leiter also offered his take on the evening. “My thing is always trying to slow myself down pre-game,” Leiter said. “I know the adrenaline is going to kick in and I feed off it. But it can go too far and that’s been kind of a thing that hurt last year. There were pockets last year when I tried to do too much; there were some of those pockets today. I’m always trying to limit them. Hopefully, I can be fully under control from pitch one to the end of every outing eventually.”