Texas @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 21, 2021 ) Texas 10, Boston 1
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is hoping that an extra day off will help to wash away the memory of his team's sloppy play on Saturday night.
The Red Sox committed a season-high five errors and had several baserunning blunders in a 10-1 blowout loss to the scuffling Texas Rangers. Boston will attempt to bounce back after Hurricane Henri postponed the series finale against the Rangers at Fenway Park by one day to Monday afternoon.
"Five errors, we didn't run the bases well. We didn't put good at-bats, we didn't pitch. In this thing, it's a team effort. You start with us, with the coaches, to keep coaching," Cora said. "We've been playing sloppy ball for a while, and they keep doing it."
Cora has made numerous tweaks to Boston's lineup and starting rotation, but nothing has seemed to help get the Red Sox out of their prolonged rut.
Once sitting comfortably atop the American League East standings, the Red Sox are tied with the Oakland Athletics for the second AL wild-card spot.
The loss on Saturday was Boston's 16th in its last 24 games, dropping the Red Sox to 15-19 since the All-Star break.
"It's not acceptable for a team that is fighting for the playoffs to show up like that and play like that," an exasperated Cora said. "It doesn't matter if you win and lose the game, it's how you win or lose the game -- and that's not acceptable."
In the opposite clubhouse, the Rangers were riding high after putting together one of their best performances in an otherwise lost season. Texas recorded a season-high seven doubles to help snap a four-game skid.
The Rangers had lost 13 of 17 overall and suffered their 16th road loss in 17 games since the break with a 6-0 defeat to the Red Sox in the series opener Friday before breaking out the bats on Saturday.
"Playing a good Red Sox team and for us to be able to put up the amount of runs, the hits that we did (was cool) -- everybody in the lineup got a hit tonight," said Rangers utility man Brock Holt, who had a pair of RBI singles in the win over his old team.
It has been a successful homecoming for Holt, who is 3-for-10 with the pair of RBIs in his return to Fenway Park. Holt spent seven seasons with Boston and was a part of two World Series-winning teams from 2013 to 2019.
"Got married playing for the Red Sox, had two kids playing for the Red Sox, we bought a house here," Holt said. "To be able to come back and get the reception that I got ... is super cool for me and my family."
Texas will send left-hander Kolby Allard (3-10, 4.88 ERA) to the mound to oppose Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (10-8, 3.91 ERA) in the finale.
Eovaldi is 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in three career starts versus Texas. Allard will be making his second career appearance against Boston as he attempts to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season.
--Field Level Media