Wilyer Abreu put the Red Sox ahead for good with an RBI single after hitting a two-run homer earlier, and Nick Sogard had a two-run single for his first big league hit. The Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 11-6 on Friday night.
Ceddanne Rafaela and Rafael Devers also hit home runs for the Red Sox, who are chasing a wild card spot. This win marked their first consecutive victories since before the All-Star break. They are now 5-8 in that stretch and remain two games behind Minnesota for the AL’s third wild card spot.
“We were very aggressive early in counts, but not trying to do too much,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “We had some quality at-bats, we ran the bases well, and then obviously we hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
Corey Seager hit two solo home runs, added a sacrifice fly, and scored three of the Rangers’ runs. Marcus Semien and Leody Taveras also hit home runs.
All four Texas homers came off starter Kutter Crawford (7-8), who struck out five and walked one in 5 1/3 innings.
“My execution has got to be better,” Crawford said. “I gave up some damage, and all those pitches were pretty much over the middle of the plate. It feels good when your offense can put up seven, eight, nine runs. We can swing it with the best of them. Fortunately for me, tonight they had my back.”
Rangers right-hander José Ureña (3-6) gave up seven runs and eight hits while pitching into the fifth inning.
The defending World Series champion Rangers have lost three games in a row and six of their last seven since a five-game winning streak that brought them close to .500. They haven’t had a winning record since May 18 and have been in third place in the AL West since June 20.
“Just got to play better,” Seager said. “There’s always an urgency. You have to. I’ve talked about it all year; it’s about winning series. We’ve tried to do it all year but haven’t done a good job of it lately.”
Seager gave Texas a 1-0 lead in the first inning before Abreu’s two-run homer in the second. After Taveras and Seager homered for a 3-2 lead in the third, the Red Sox responded with a four-run fourth inning.
