Red Sox Notes: Bullpen, Offense Lifts Boston To Win Over Rangers
BOSTON — The Red Sox spoiled Nathan Eovaldi’s return to Fenway Park when Boston rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning with six runs to defeat the Texas Rangers on Thursday night.
The Rangers held a 5-4 advantage, tagging Red Sox starting pitcher Kutter Crawford for seven hits and three runs in four innings of work until Boston’s offense exploded for its 26th come-from-behind win this season.
“I had nothing going for me tonight,” Crawford said. “The fastball wasn’t good. The cutter command wasn’t great. The curveball, splitter wasn’t doing much. I really didn’t have anything working for me. I just grinded and thankfully the offense and the bullpen was able to pick me up.”
Josh Winckowski took the ball in the seventh with Texas runners on first and second with no outs. He got out of the jam and inning without surrendering a run or a hit.
Winckowski admitted coming into that situation gets him a little more amped up on the mound.
“For sure, I mean one-run ball game still,” Winckowski said. “Obviously, every pitcher here believes in the lineup that we have and even though we keep it close, stuff like tonight is gonna happen.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted how big that moment was not just in the game, but for Winckowski as well.
“It was huge,” Cora said. “He’s been struggling lately, command-wise. I think stuff has been there the whole time. But when he came in, we talked about, just limit the damage.”
Crawford added the bullpen has been lifting up the starters for quite some time and it’s time to return the favor.
“All things considered, they’ve done a great job,” Crawford said. “They’ve picked up the starters when they need to get picked up and now it’s time for myself and (the other) starters to pick them up. (Brayan) Bello’s been doing a great job. (James Paxton’s) been doing a great job. So, I need to step it up.”
Here are more notes from Thursday’s Red Sox-Rangers game:
— Cora noted how much of an impact Jarren Duran had in the game coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter, despite not even swinging the bat. With Duran coming to the plate, the Rangers countered by going to lefty Brock Burke out of the bullpen, which made Cora go with Rob Refsnyder instead of Duran.
“He actually changed the game tonight,” Cora said. “Not even hitting. … He’s a threat right now. So, they respected that and they went aggressively to their bullpen and we took advantage.”
— The seven hits in the seventh inning tied the season high for hits in a single inning, duplicating the seven hits in the third inning against the Minnesota Twins on April 20.
— With the series win, the Red Sox improve to 15-11-2 in series play this season, including 8-6-0 at Fenway.
— The Red Sox improved to 40-13 when scoring four or more runs in a game, and are now 7-36 when trailing after six innings and 12-22 without hitting a home run.
— Cora did not name a starter for the opener against the Oakland Athletics on Friday and said he was unsure if Joely Rodríguez or Yu Chang would be activated from the injured list during the series.
— The Red Sox and A’s get their three-game series underway at Fenway Park Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
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