The Texas Rangers (0-1) collapsed in the ninth inning against the Boston Red Sox (1-0), falling 5-2 on Thursday at Globe Life Field.
Fans in red and blue flocked to the stadium in hopes of seeing the Rangers take home an opening-day win. After a four-inning stalemate, the wind was sucked out of the building in the ninth.
Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu blasted his second home run of the game, giving Boston a 5-2 lead in the top of the ninth. With runs being hard to come by for the Rangers, the three-run bomb was too much to overcome in the latter part of the inning.
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi started the game on fire from the mound, recording four strikeouts in his first 24 pitches.
“I felt really good today,” Eovaldi said. “I feel like I had good command on my fastball, I had a really good feel for the curveball. Towards the end of the game, I started to get the splitter going. I feel like I did a good job keeping them off balance.”
Infielder Jake Burger introduced himself to Rangers fans, opening up scoring in the second inning off of outfielder Kevin Pillar’s single.
After leading 1-0, Eovaldi gave up three hits, letting Boston tie the game 1-1.
Pillar’s second hit of the game came with two outs on the board for the Rangers in the fourth inning. Following him was catcher Kyle Higashioka, who doubled to center and brought Pillar home for the Rangers to regain the lead.
Pillar, a former Red Sox, contemplated retirement before the season but signed a minor league deal with the team in February. In three plate appearances, Pillar recorded two hits, one run and one run batted in.
“He said to himself, ‘Hey, I’m not done. I have a lot of baseball left,’ and that’s what it looks like,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s why he got the start today and did a nice job.”
That would be the Rangers’ last score.
Despite his performance, Eovaldi said he was frustrated with himself for allowing the Red Sox to tie the game in the fifth.
“We scored twice first and the very next thing, I gave it up,” he said. “[It’s] frustrating, I feel like the biggest thing in baseball is a shutdown inning.”
Eovaldi’s afternoon came to an end after pitching six innings and recording nine strikeouts, giving up only three hits.
Although the team struggles offensively, Bochy said he doesn’t lack confidence in his team’s scoring ability.
“We’re a team that’s gonna put up runs. We got shut down to two runs; I don’t see that happening a lot because of this offense,” he said.
With the game tied 2-2, pitcher Luke Jackson gave up the home run to Abreu, sealing the game.
The Rangers will host the Red Sox through Sunday at Globe Life Field with the next game slated for 7:05 p.m. Friday. All games will be available on the Victory+ network.
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