BOSTON– Kutter Crawford pitched a perfect game until the sixth inning, and Connor Wong capped a 12-hit attack with a three-run home run to give the Boston Red Sox a 9-4 victory over the struggling Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
Rob Refsnyder and Nick Sogard scored two runs each as the Red Sox handed Texas its third straight loss and sixth setback in seven games. The defending World Series champion Rangers also reached a season low of 10 games under .500 at 55-65.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy was ejected in the middle of the sixth inning after objecting to a third strike that ended a four-run rally and brought the Rangers back into the game.
Boston won for only the second time in six games, despite some shaky outings after Crawford was substituted in the sixth inning.
Crawford (8-9) was perfect for five innings, going 5 1/3 innings before the Rangers broke through. Carson Kelly broke Crawford’s perfect start and no-hit attempt in the sixth inning by hitting a single to left, starting Texas’ first rally of the game. Leody Taveras followed with a single to center and Marcus Semien broke the shutout attempt with a double to left, bringing Kelly home for the Rangers’ first run.
Crawford was taken off the field after Semien’s double and received a warm applause from the fans at Fenway Park. They were less forgiving when reliever Cam Booser allowed an RBI single to Josh Smith and walked Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe with the bases loaded. That was it for Booser, who left the field to a chorus of boos as Boston’s lead shrank to 6-4.
The Red Sox scored five runs in the fifth inning, loading the bases with one out on a Ceddanne Rafaela single, a David Hamilton double and a Masataka Yoshida walk. Refsnyder, who had the game-winning hit in Boston’s 6-5 10-inning victory on Monday, hit a single to center, scoring two runs and giving Boston a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Wong cleared the bases with a home run to left that gave Boston a 6-0 lead and chased José Ureña away.
Ureña pitched 4 ⅔ innings, allowing six runs, all earned, on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Bochy had a few words for home plate umpire Erich Bacchus and crew chief Laz Diaz after Wyatt Langford was ruled out on strike 3 on a pitch from reliever Lucas Sims. Langford thought the pitch was too low and too far and immediately turned to Bacchus. Bochy came out of the dugout and said a few more words for Bacchus and Diaz before Bacchus ejected the Texans captain.
Boston added three more runs in the eighth inning when Dominic Smith hit a single to shallow right field, where three Texas players gathered and saw the ball drop, loading the bases with no outs. Nick Sogard followed with a single to right that scored Wong and Wilyer Abreu.
TRAINING ROOM
Rangers: RHP Nathan Eovaldi was away from the club and will miss his next scheduled start on Wednesday. Eovaldi, who won a World Series title with the Red Sox in 2018, left his start Saturday with the Yankees after three innings because of soreness in his right side. Manager Bruce Bochy said before Tuesday’s game that the Rangers want to give Eovaldi a few extra days of rest before adding him back into the rotation.
Red Sox: Lefty James Paxton, who was placed on the 15-day injured list for a reported strained right calf, said Tuesday it was actually a partial muscle tear. Manager Alex Cora said it was “unlikely” Paxton, who came to Boston in a trade from the Dodgers last month, will be able to throw again this season, but expressed hope that Paxton could improve in the next few weeks.
Next
The Rangers have not announced a starter to take Nathan Eovaldi’s place in the rotation for Wednesday’s series finale. The Red Sox will start with RHP Tanner Houck (8-8, 3.02 ERA).
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
