Rangers 6, Red Sox 4

 

Well, maybe a home sweep was a little too much to ask for. I shouldn't have put that much pressure on the poor, struggling team. Maybe some other time, boys.

Willson Contreras homered twice, both solo blasts, and Mayer and Abreu both had RBIs. Early gave up all six runs before getting pulled in the fifth, but the bullpen locked in and gave up only two hits and no runs the rest of the game. Still, the Sox weren't able to catch up to Texas, and were forced to settle for a 2-1 series win and a 12-22 home record.   

Boston (29-40) falls back to 13½ out of first place. They're off today and then fortunately back on the road, where they're 17-18, for a road trip to Toronto (34-38), Seattle (37-36), and Colorado (27-45) before returning home to Fenway for four against the Yankees (43-27). Six games against teams within a few of .500, and then three against the team with the worst record in MLB, before coming home and seeing if their Fenway mojo has improved any since last weekend.