Two hanging breaking balls in Arlington
Texas led 3-0. Texas lost 4-3.
The eighth inning did all of it on Tuesday night. Wilyer Abreu walked. Willson Contreras wore a Jakob Junis pitch. The Rangers called on All-Star closer Jacob Latz, who struck out Adley Rutschman on three pitches and looked like he had the inning handled. Then he hung a breaking ball. Then he hung another one. Trevor Story sat on the second and drove it over the wall in left, his fourth homer of the year and a three-run swing that took the game with it.
Story grew up in Irving, a short drive from the ballpark. Timing is not always a coincidence.
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8-59 against 63-2
Boston had been 8-59 when trailing after seven innings this season. Texas had been 63-2 when leading after seven. Both records took a hit in the space of about ten minutes.
Wyatt Olds struck out three for the win. Garrett Whitlock closed it out for his fourth save in eight tries, getting Jake Burger to ground into a double play to finish the ninth.
The first seven innings had pointed the other way entirely. Josh Jung took Sonny Gray deep in the first. Texas added two more in the second on a Danny Jansen RBI single and an Evan Carter sacrifice bunt. Roman Anthony trimmed it in the seventh. Gray went 6 1/3, gave up three hits, and threw 102 pitches, his heaviest workload of the season.
One game back in the West, two back in the wild card
Texas sit at 76-77 and slip a game behind Houston, who are 77-76 and hold the tiebreaker. Four straight wins had pulled the Rangers level. That work is undone. They are also two games out of the last American League wild card berth, level with Toronto.
Boston, 83-70, keep a five-game buffer on the top wild card. Toronto come to Arlington on Friday with Dylan Cease facing Kumar Rocker.
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