Red Sox 9, Rangers 2
ARLINGTON, Tex. (Mar 25) — It wasn’t the Texas Rangers‘ night on Monday, as they lost to the Boston Red Sox, 9–2, in one of their final tune-up contests of 2024. Home runs by Tyler O’Neill, Trevor Story, and Enmanuel Valdez proved to be too much for the Rangers to handle on this cool evening in Arlington. The Rangers will go for the series split on Tuesday afternoon at 1:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. The Red Sox will send righty Richard Fitts to the hill, and the Rangers will counter with fellow right-hander Dane Dunning.
Red Sox Break it Open
The Rangers got on the board first in the bottom of the second. Wyatt Langford scored on a single to right by Jared Walsh off Red Sox starter Garrett Whitlock. Langford reached on a fielding error by third baseman Rafael Devers moments earlier. The Red Sox tied it in the top of the third thanks to a double to center by Reese McGuire. This drove in Valdez. In the top of the fourth, the Rangers brought in Grant Anderson to relieve Blake Taylor on the mound. Anderson received a rude welcome when he gave up a leadoff homer to left-center by Tyler O’Neill, giving the Red Sox a 2–1 lead.
Mini Rally
Two batters later, the Rangers made another pitching change, bringing in Danny Duffy to relieve Anderson. The Red Sox added an insurance run in the top of the fifth off Rangers reliever Daniel Robert. Story plated McGuire with a single to center. McGuire drew a walk off Duffy three batters earlier. After giving up a free pass to Tyler O’Neill, Robert threw a wild pitch that brought home Jarren Duran. The Red Sox added two more in the top of the seventh courtesy of a two-run blast to left-center by Story. He hit it off Rangers lefty Brock Burke and scored Pablo Reyes, who drew a walk moments earlier, in the process.
Their seventh run of the evening came in the top of the eighth. It came on a solo home run to right-center by Valdez off Josh Sborz. The Rangers scored once more off Red Sox reliever and former Ranger Joely Rodriguez. Derek Hill crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Justin Foscue. Hill came in as a pinch-runner for Leody Taveras, who drew a walk off Rodriguez earlier. They scored two final runs in the top of the ninth. Eddy Alvarez scored on a fielder’s choice that the Rangers challenged, but the call was upheld. Mark Contreras scored on a second tag play that was also challenged by the Rangers but upheld.
What Went Right for the Red Sox
The Red Sox took advantage of a shaky pitching staff on Monday evening. The home runs by O’Neill, Story, and Valdez added to their cause as well. This may have been just an exhibition game between two good teams, but the Red Sox were applying pressure. It was almost as if they thought the regular season had already started.
What Went Wrong for the Red Sox
The only blemishes in the Red Sox portion of the box score were the run they gave up to Wyatt Langford in the bottom of the second and the sacrifice fly by Justin Foscue that plated Mark Contreras.
Pitching Notes
On the mound, the Rangers opted for a ‘bullpen game’ approach, deploying 12 different pitchers. Headlining their array of arms this evening was lefty Jacob Latz (1 IP), righties Austin Pruitt (1 IP, 2 K), and David Robertson (1 IP, H, 2 K). Latz, who has been scoreless in six of his 7 ‘A’ game outings, has held opponents to a .192 (5-for-26) clip this spring. As a staff, the Rangers recorded 10 strikeouts on Monday, punching out opponents in double digits for the 10th time this spring.
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Postgame Comments
Further proving what a good human being he is, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy commended the members of the media for staying late into the night. This was a game that lasted almost three hours, which is unusual with the new rules that are in play. Bochy discussed the defensive and offensive struggles that his team had on Monday. “This was definitely a struggle”, he said. “It was a bullpen day, and it just didn’t work in our favor. On the other side of things. Offensively, I look at Corey (Seager) and Josh (Jung), and it’s always good when they get three at-bats in a game. It’s always better when you can win the game when they’re productive, but it’s a long season and we just have to get the bats going.”
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Earlier in the frame, Valdez reached on a single to right off Rangers reliever Austin Pruitt.
You posted the above sentence. That did not happen. Pruitt’s box scores showed Zero Hits.
Thanks
My apologies. I fixed it. Thanks for the heads up.