ARLINGTON, Texas — Three of the Boston Red Sox’ four runs Thursday night reached base on a walk or a hit-by-pitch. Boston beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3, at Globe Life Field, scoring once in the seventh and three times in the eighth.
Robby Ahlstrom Walks First Two Batters of Seventh Inning
Rookie Robby Ahlstrom walked Caleb Durbin and Nate Eaton to open the seventh with Texas ahead, 3-0. Eaton advanced to third on a flyout to deep center field and scored when Roman Anthony grounded into a forceout. Jakob Junis relieved Ahlstrom and got out of the inning.
In the eighth, Junis walked Wilyer Abreu and hit Willson Contreras on the hand. Jacob Latz struck out Adley Rutschman, and Trevor Story followed with a three-run home run.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said he had hoped Ahlstrom could get through the bottom of the Boston order.
“I think early on with Robby walking those couple guys, we had to use Junis to get out of it,” Schumaker said. “And then asking him to go back out there, just because of where we were at in our kind of bullpen day type of deal. Cody Bradford, I think what gets lost in this, was outstanding. He provided exactly what we’re hoping he’d do. Silseth came in, got a couple big outs in a big spot.”
“We’re hoping that Robby could get the bottom of the order, and a couple walks hurt us,” Schumaker continued. “It forced us to kind of use Junis there and then send him back out. And then we had to use Latz to clean them up. But I think you’re right. I think that the walks ended up hurting us towards the middle innings, ended up scoring some runs.”
Ahlstrom made his major league debut June 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. The New York Yankees drafted him in the seventh round in 2021 out of Oregon, and Texas acquired him in April 2022.
Robert Garcia Unavailable As Skip Schumaker Looks For ‘Right Recipe’
Schumaker said Robert Garcia, who has thrown 4 1/3 scoreless innings since coming off the injured list, was unavailable Thursday.
“I thought Silseth has been really good,” Schumaker explained. “Junis last night got us out of a big jam. Tyler Alexander has been really good in those kind of middle innings. So just trying to figure out the right kind of recipe to get it into Latz’s hands so I don’t have to use him in the eighth inning.”
“That’s been a little bit of trying to not use Latz in multi-innings or use him in the eighth inning and figure out the ninth later,” Schumaker added. “But the way Garcia was down today, so having just kind of a few guys in the back end, we would have closed with Williams and Monty tonight if Latz could get through that inning.”
Texas acquired Chase Silseth from the Los Angeles Angels on July 30. He had a 2.72 ERA over 47 relief appearances with the Angels this season. Tyler Alexander opened Thursday’s game and entered 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA.
Trevor Williams signed with Texas on Sept. 1 after his release by Washington. He had a 2.65 ERA over 8 relief appearances with the Nationals, including 3 1/3 scoreless innings against the Rangers on Aug. 18 at Globe Life Field. Jordan Montgomery came off the 60-day injured list Aug. 7 after Tommy John surgery and has pitched out of the bullpen since.
On Wednesday night, Latz and Garcia were both unavailable, and Nathan Eovaldi covered the final 4 innings of a 7-3 win. Thursday’s loss left Texas one game behind the Houston Astros in the AL West with nine games left. The Rangers host the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday at 7:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
