The Red Sox saw the Rangers snap their four-game losing streak at their expense Tuesday night, with Texas taking a narrow 6-4 win at Globe Life Field.
Boston falls to 75-77 while the Rangers improve their record to 83-68.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Tanner Houck put the Red Sox bullpen in a bad spot yet again.
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In his last outing, Houck pitched six innings for the first time since June 10, putting his third time through the order struggles behind him. But that proved to just be a mirage.
Houck lasted only four-plus innings against the Rangers as the Red Sox ultimately couldn't hold onto an early lead they grabbed off old friend Nathan Eovaldi. Houck allowed three hits, two runs and recorded four strikeouts while tying his season-high with four walks.
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Boston's bullpen, besides Brennan Bernardino, did little to pick up Houck. Mauricio Llovera let up two runs in the bottom of the sixth and then Chris Murphy created quite the mess in the seventh, which John Schreiber couldn't clean up as the Rangers added two more runs to take the lead.
With Houck failing to go deep into the ball game, the Red Sox couldn't set up their bullpen exactly how they wanted to, putting them in a tough position that ended up costing them.
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STARS OF THE GAME
-- Josh Jung's only hit of the game ended up being the biggest as he singled up the middle off Schreiber to score Marcus Semien to break a 4-4 deadlock in the bottom of the seventh.
-- Masataka Yoshida gave the Red Sox a 3-1 lead in the top of the third with a two-run single. Yoshida, who finished 1-for-4 in the game, now has 70 RBIs on the season.
-- Aroldis Chapman looked like his prime self as he mowed down Red Sox hitters. The hard-throwing lefty tossed 1 2/3 perfect innings out of the bullpen and racked up three strikeouts. Eight of Chapman's 21 pitches registered triple digits with him topping out at 102.7 mph.
WAGER WATCH
Justin Turner continues to inch closer to reaching 100 RBIs for the first time in his career. He pushed a run across on a ground out and FanDuel Sportsbook set Turner's odds of registering an RBI at +165. A $100 wager on this prop bet would have netted a total of $265.
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ON DECK AT NESN
The Red Sox close out their three-game series with the Rangers on Wednesday. First pitch from Globe Life Park is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
Featured image via Andrew Dieb/USA TODAY Sports Images