Wyatt Langford tied the game with a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, and Jonah Heim added a two-run homer in the 10th, leading the Texas Rangers to a 9-7 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night and avoiding a three-game sweep.
Heim’s homer came on the first pitch from Boston reliever Zach Kelly (4-2), driving in automatic runner Ezequiel Duran.
Langford’s seventh home run of the season was hit off Josh Winckowski, who began the ninth inning by giving up consecutive singles to Corey Seager and Josh Smith, both of whom scored on Langford’s shot.
Matt Festa (1-1) earned the win, while Kirby Yates picked up his 21st save of the season with a scoreless 10th inning. The defending World Series champions halted a three-game losing streak and secured only their fifth win in the last 18 games.
The Rangers initially scored when Langford, who led off the second inning with a single off Boston starter Tanner Houck, scored on Leody Tavares’ sacrifice fly. The Red Sox responded with two runs in the bottom of the second: Danny Jansen walked, Dominic Smith singled, and Jansen scored on Nick Sogard’s groundout, with Sogard later crossing the plate on a single by David Hamilton.
Boston extended its lead to 4-2 with two runs in the sixth inning. Wilyer Abreu kicked things off with his 13th home run of the season, and pinch hitter Romy Gonzalez added a sacrifice fly to bring in Masataka Yoshida.
Adolis Garcia responded for Texas with solo home runs in both the sixth and eighth innings, marking his 20th home run of the season. This performance was his eighth career multi-homer game and his first of the current season. Garcia’s second home run cut Boston’s lead to 4-3. The Rangers evened the score when Langford and Ezequiel Duran both reached base on infield singles, with Langford scoring due to an error by Boston third baseman Rafael Devers.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Boston scored three runs with two outs off right-hander David Robertson. Yoshida doubled, and Connor Wong, who was pinch-running, scored on a single by Jansen. Devers was intentionally walked, and Gonzalez’s double down the left-field line brought in Devers and Jansen.
Jarren Duran, Boston’s leadoff hitter and this year’s All-Star Game MVP, returned from a two-game suspension and went 1 for 5 with two strikeouts. He was caught trying to advance to second base on a pitch in the dirt in the eighth inning.
Duran’s suspension followed an incident where he used a homophobic slur against a fan during Sunday’s game against the Houston Astros, breaking his streak of playing in every game this season.
