ARLINGTON, Texas — Brandon Nimmo doubled off Boston left-hander Erik Miller in the seventh inning Wednesday night to give the Texas Rangers their first lead. Ezequiel Durán followed with a two-run single, and Texas beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3 at Globe Life Field.
Nimmo’s double scored Corey Seager for a 4-3 lead. Durán’s single scored Jake Burger and Nimmo. All 3 runs were charged to Miller (4-1), the third of four Boston pitchers.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Miller is a really tough lefty who throws 95 with good secondary pitches.
“We had a lot of big hits today,” Schumaker said. “But I thought after, when Miller came in the game, Nimmo had a giant hit the other way against, Miller’s a really tough lefty, 95 with really good secondary. And then obviously [Durán] coming through with two more RBIs, kind of give us a little, a little bit of cushion for Evo, was maybe the, the hit of the game, but I thought Nimmo’s at-bat was just fantastic.”
“Justin Foscue has been so good at the top of the lineup as well, and then obviously Seager at the end,” Schumaker continued. “But up and down the lineup, I could go through each guy that had productive outs, even when they made the outs, and then they had productive at-bats with guys in scoring position. There was some frustration a little bit early on when we had guys on base and didn’t knock them in, but they capitalized towards the end of the game.”
Texas Rangers Finish With 13 Hits
Justin Foscue doubled on the first pitch from Red Sox rookie left-hander Jake Bennett, and Burger drove him in with a ground-rule double. Boston led 2-1 after one inning.
In the fourth, Foscue singled home Wyatt Langford to tie it. After Boston went ahead 3-2 on a balk in the fifth, Josh Jung led off the bottom half with a double. Langford singled him home with two outs off reliever Greg Weissert.
Bennett allowed 3 runs on 8 hits over 4 2/3 innings. He walked 1 and struck out 7.
Seager added an RBI single in the eighth. Jung finished with 3 hits, and Burger and Foscue had 2 apiece. Nathan Eovaldi held Boston to 1 hit over the final 4 innings, and the Red Sox finished with 3.
Brandon Nimmo, Ezequiel Durán Delivered In Arizona And Tuesday
On Sept. 12 at Chase Field, Nimmo hit an RBI double and Durán capped a six-run fifth inning with a two-run single in a 6-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Nimmo had 2 doubles that night.
On Tuesday, Elias Díaz hit a two-out, two-run double in the second inning that scored Nimmo and Durán. Durán went 2-for-3 with a run in the 4-2 win.
Nimmo entered the series hitting .263 with 33 doubles, 4 triples, 14 home runs, and 60 RBIs.
Eovaldi spoke with Rangers Sports Network after the game. He said the Rangers were able to hang around long enough to take the lead.
“I think that’s big,” Eovaldi said. “Obviously, guys are grinding right now, but for us to be able to come out and play well these first two games against the Red Sox, we’ve got to make sure that we bounce back tomorrow. But I think it just shows the grit that we have in the clubhouse and all the guys. We’ve been having a lot of production at the bottom part of the lineup and being able to get on base, and we were able to hang around long enough to take the lead.”
Texas (76-76) has won 4 straight and is tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West. Houston holds the tiebreaker.
Schumaker said after the game that Cody Bradford would start Thursday’s series finale, Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reported. The club later announced left-hander Tyler Alexander as its scheduled starter against Boston right-hander Sonny Gray. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
