After dropping the first game of their 10-game road trip in Arlington, Texas on Thursday, the Boston Red Sox responded by winning the next two and Chris Sale made sure they left the Lone Star State with a series win Sunday.
The Red Sox ace was dominant in the series finale at Globe Life Park, allowing one run on four hits while striking out 12 in a 6-1 Red Sox win.
Boston scored early against former teammate Doug Fister, and finally chased him in the seventh after J.D. Martinez clubbed a solo home run.
It wasn’t all good news for the Red Sox, though, as Mookie Betts exited the game with a right shoulder contusion after being hit by an errant throw in the first inning.
With the win, the Red Sox improve to 25-9, while the Rangers fall to 13-23.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Dominance.
Sale has owned the Rangers of late, and he continued that trend Sunday, earning his third win of the season while lowering his ERA to 2.02.
ON THE BUMP
— Sale was fantastic over seven innings Sunday.
The Rangers had an opportunity to get to Sale in the second inning when they loaded the bases with two outs thanks to a Rafael Devers error, but Carlos Perez smoked a screaming line drive back up the middle that Sale was able to snag to end the frame.
Sale cruised through the next four innings before Texas finally got on the board in the seventh when Ryan Rua launched a solo home run to right field to cut the lead to 6-1. The lefty struck out Delino DeShields Jr. to end the seventh and put a bow on his start.
— Matt Barnes recorded a scoreless eighth inning.
— Carson Smith allowed a hit in a scoreless ninth inning.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston got to Fister early when Mitch Moreland laced a one-out, RBI double down the right-field line to score Betts to make in 1-0 in the first inning. The Red Sox could have gotten more off Fister, but Martinez was thrown out at home when he tried to score on a ground ball to third base off the bat of Xander Bogaerts.
— The Sox made it 2-0 in the third inning when Bogaerts ripped a two-out, RBI single to left field to plate Martinez.
— Sandy Leon did the big damage during the top of the sixth inning when he crushed a Fister fastball into the right-field seats for a three-run home run to make it 5-0. Leon finished the day 2-for-3.
— Martinez blasted his eighth home run of the season in the seventh inning, a solo shot to right field that made it 6-0. The Red Sox slugger went 2-for-4 with a home run.
— Moreland went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
— Bogaerts went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
— Blake Swihart, Eduardo Nunez and Betts each recorded a hit.
— Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Devers each went hitless.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Stay fresh, Chris.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox will head to New York to start a three-game series with the Yankees on Tuesday night. Drew Pomeranz will make the start for Boston and will be opposed by Luis Severino.
