Red Sox Notes: Boston Ends Key Homestand On ‘Frustrating’ Note

BOSTON -- The Red Sox hadn't recorded a series sweep since the All-Star break entering Wednesday night's series finale against the Rangers, and the team couldn't get any closer to doing so when Texas was down to its final out at Fenway Park.

In the previous inning, Boston seemingly mustered up enough momentum to break out the brooms, however, the Rangers pulled the carpet out from underneath the Red Sox -- not once, but twice. First, as the Red Sox led 7-4 with two outs to begin the ninth inning, Texas outfielder Wyatt Langford crushed a clutch, game-tying three-run home run on an 0-1 count. It was an especially daunting blow considering Red Sox reliever Josh Winckowski had just retired slugger Adolis García -- who belted two home runs up to that point. Langford's 389-foot blast wasn't the final punch Texas delivered.

"It's frustrating," Winckowski admitted after Boston's 9-7 loss in extra innings. "... It's not even like you can look at one guy or one out. We're all kind of, at different points, failing to do our part. It's frustrating. I feel like we get the wheels back on track and then off track so it's definitely frustrating."

After the Red Sox went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora turned to right-hander Zack Kelly to maintain the 7-7 tie. Yet... to lead off the 10th inning with a designated runner in scoring position, Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, too, belted a clutch home run, this time plating two runs to give Texas a stunning 9-7 lead. The Red Sox, who had provided its pitching staff with three leads throughout the night, had nothing left in the tank. For yet another post-Midsummer Classic instance, Boston paid the ultimate price for its struggling bullpen.

"We are better than that, but we gotta learn from today and get better -- and keep the ball in the ballpark," Cora said. "We can talk about slumping but we gotta keep the ball in the ballpark and we haven't done that since the All-Star Game."

Cora added: "It's tough but we gotta move on and be ready for tomorrow."

Here are more notes from Wednesday night's Red Sox-Rangers game:

-- Boston stood within 1 1/2 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the third and final wild card spot in the American League. But having lost to end its six-game homestand, the Red Sox sit two games back with 43 left to play in the regular season.

"It definitely hurt," Romy González said. "Every game matters at this point in the season. It's baseball. It's a crazy game. Now we gotta prepare for a big series in Baltimore."

-- Tanner Houck provided a quality start on the mound, pitching 6 2/3 innings while allowing two runs off six hits with three strikeouts. That marked the right-hander's 17th quality outing this season, which is tied for the fourth most in MLB.

"I feel like the movement early on was definitely better than what we've seen the past two outings," Houck said. "Ultimately, it's just showing up each and every day and doing the little things that really do matter, and kind of having that quality conversation with (Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey)."

-- Red Sox infielder Nick Sogard made an early exit in the ninth inning, which Cora revealed was due to a calf injury.

"He fouled the ball off and he felt it was getting tight so we decided to take him out of the game," Cora explained.

-- Boston has lost five of its last seven games after winning six of its previous eight.

-- The Red Sox will next hit the road and begin a seven-game trip away starting Thursday night against the Baltimore Orioles. First pitch from Oriole Park at Camden Yards is set for 6:35 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.