Rangers reach .500 again and tie for AL West lead with 7-3 victory over Red Sox

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Brandon Nimmo hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning before Ezequiel Duran added a two-run single, and the surging Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3 on Wednesday night to pull even with Houston atop the AL West.

Nathan Eovaldi (11-9) allowed one hit over four scoreless innings in relief and finished the game retiring his last 11 batters. He earned the win in his second appearance since missing a month on the injured list because of elbow inflammation.

The Rangers (76-76) have won four in a row to reach .500 for the first time since they were 66-66 on Aug. 24. With 10 games left, they moved into a first-place tie in the division race when the Astros lost 5-2 to Kansas City at home, though Houston owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Boston (82-70) has lost five of seven but holds the second American League wild card by five games over the Chicago White Sox.

Erik Miller (4-1), the third of four Red Sox pitchers, worked the seventh when the Rangers scored three times.

Boston went ahead 3-2 in the fifth after reliever Jakob Junis dropped the ball while on the rubber, resulting in a balk that sent a runner home from third base.

That was soon after left-hander MacKenzie Gore left his 32nd start of the season, tied for most in the majors. He allowed only two hits, but walked three without a strikeout.

Willson Contreras hit his 27th homer in the first inning, a two-run shot that put the Red Sox up 2-0.

Justin Foscue doubled on the first pitch thrown by Red Sox rookie starter Jake Bennett and scored on a ground-rule double by Jake Burger. Texas tied it at 2 on Foscue’s RBI single in the fourth, and Wyatt Langford had an RBI single in the fifth.

Up next

Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (17-5, 2.76 ERA) goes for his MLB-leading 18th victory in the series finale Thursday. LHP Cody Bradford (0-5, 4.72) starts for the Rangers.

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