Game 69: Rangers 6, Red Sox 4 — Early Trouble, Late Whimper, Same Old Fenway Circus
Willson Contreras brought the fireworks. The rest of the Red Sox brought a half-charged flashlight.
The Boston Red Sox had a chance Sunday night to sweep the Texas Rangers, win three straight, and give Fenway Park a rare moment of peace. You know, one of those nights where everyone goes to bed thinking, “Maybe this team has a pulse.”
Instead, Connelly Early threw one pitch and immediately turned the game into a police report.
Wyatt Langford jumped on Early’s very first offering and sent it over the Monster like he was launching a flare to warn the rest of New England: yes, this is going to be one of those games.
By the second inning, the Rangers had already stretched the lead to 4–0 after Kyle Higashioka hammered a three-run homer. Higashioka. Of course. Because nothing says Red Sox baseball like getting stomped by a guy whose name sounds like a limited-edition Honda generator.
Connelly Early Was Late to the Assignment
Early’s final line was ugly enough to make a NESN postgame panel stare silently into their Dunkin cups: 4.2 innings, 11 hits, 6 runs, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts.
That is not a pitching line. That is a Yelp review from someone who ordered seafood at a gas station.
The Rangers finished with 13 hits, and for the first half of the game, it felt like every Texas batter walked to the plate with a coupon for one free barrel. Langford homered. Higashioka homered. Brandon Nimmo doubled in two more. Justin Foscue went 3-for-3 because apparently everyone gets a turn participating in the Red Sox nightly trauma workshop.
Willson Contreras Tried to Drag the Corpse
The only reason this game didn’t feel like a total Fenway yard sale was Willson Contreras, who looked like the only guy in red socks aware that there was a professional baseball game happening.
Contreras went 3-for-4 with two home runs, basically standing in the batter’s box like, “Fine, I’ll do it myself, you collection of folding chairs.”
He hit one in the second. He hit another in the sixth. He gave the Red Sox life. He gave the crowd hope. He gave the offense a CPR demonstration.
And then the rest of the lineup treated that hope like it was expired milk.
Masataka Yoshida added a double and scored a run, and Boston did enough to make the score respectable, but not enough to make anyone forget they were chasing the game from the first pitch. That’s the Red Sox specialty lately: make it close enough to annoy you, not close enough to reward you.
Nathan Eovaldi Did the Former Red Sox Thing
Nathan Eovaldi returned to Fenway and did exactly what former Red Sox players are contractually obligated to do: make Boston look stupid.
Eovaldi went 7 innings, allowed 3 runs, struck out 6, and generally pitched like a man who was very comfortable reminding everyone, “Hey, remember when I used to do this here?”
Yes, Nathan. We remember. Thank you. Very cool. Please take your revenge tour and your functioning command elsewhere.
The Red Sox did get to the Texas bullpen for a run in the eighth, but Jacob Latz shut the door for his 11th save, because apparently the Rangers also brought bullpen competence to Fenway, which is rude and unnecessary.
The Big Picture Is Still Gross
The Red Sox are now 29–40, sitting in last place in the AL East and 13.5 games behind the Yankees.
Thirteen and a half games.
That’s not a division race. That’s a missing persons report.
Yes, they still won the series. Yes, taking two of three from Texas is better than getting swept into a storm drain. But Sunday was another reminder that this team has no margin for stupidity, and yet they keep making stupidity the featured attraction.
When your starter puts you in a 4–0 hole before people have finished arguing with Peacock about their login, you’re not playing baseball — you’re performing emergency maintenance.
Final Thoughts
This was a winnable game that became an uphill sprint because the Red Sox started the night by handing Texas a shovel and pointing toward the grave.
Willson Contreras showed up. The bullpen did its job after Early left, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings. But the damage was already done, and once again Boston was stuck doing that fake comeback routine where everyone leans forward for ten minutes before the whole thing collapses like a cheap beach chair.
The Red Sox had a sweep sitting right there.
Instead, they got a 6–4 loss, another reminder of how thin this roster feels, and a Sunday night special where the first pitch might as well have been fired out of a cannon directly into everyone’s patience.
Red Sox fans, what annoyed you more: Early getting smoked immediately, the offense waiting too long to wake up, or Eovaldi coming back to Fenway and calmly ruining everyone’s night?
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