Ceddanne Rafaela gave Boston a lift with a two-run, go-ahead single in the seventh inning, and the Red Sox turned that into a 4-2 win at home. For a club that has struggled to make Fenway feel like an advantage, the swing stood out immediately.
Rafaela now ranks second on the Red Sox in batting average at .291, while also sitting second in doubles with 14 and stolen bases with seven. After the win, he said, “Every win matters, especially at home. I want the fans to be happy, that’s what we are showing up for to try and accomplish.”
Boston tries to build on back-to-back wins
Jarren Duran added insurance with a two-run homer in the eighth, giving the bullpen more room to work with. He said the club needs to keep pushing after its recent uptick, adding, “We are picking it up, which is good. We just need to put our heads down and keep going.”
Boston will send Connelly Early to the mound in his first career appearance against Texas. The Red Sox enter the matchup with a lineup built around Masataka Yoshida, Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras, Duran, Durbin, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Marcelo Mayer and Carlos Narváez.
Texas leans on Eovaldi, but the offense needs more
The Rangers come in at 34-36 and will start Nathan Eovaldi, who is 5-7 with a 4.26 ERA. In 12 appearances, including 11 starts, against one of his former teams, he is 4-1 with a 4.68 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings.
Texas manager Skip Schumaker said the challenge is giving the pitching staff more support after the Rangers scored only four runs in the first two games of the series. He said the offense has to provide “more cushion on the offensive side for our starting pitchers.”
The Rangers’ lineup features Wyatt Langford, Josh Jung, Nimmo, Jarren Duran, Jake Burger, Foscue, Freeman, Higashioka and Osuna. Burger reached a milestone on Saturday by hitting his 100th career home run, and he leads Texas with 12 homers and 42 RBIs.
Injury note changes the picture for Texas
Michael Helman left Saturday’s game after being hit on the right hand by a pitch in the eighth inning. Schumaker said Helman has multiple fractures in at least one finger, if not two, and will be out for a bit.
The game is set for 7:20 p.m. and will air on NBC and Peacock, with radio coverage on WEEI-FM 93.7. For Boston, the result offered another sign that a few timely swings can change the mood around home games quickly.
