| Rangers | 2 |
|---|---|
| Red Sox | 1 |
Dustin Pedroia bent over at the waist as though he had been kicked in the stomach.
He had hit the ball as well as he could, sending it speeding out to left field. Had the ball struck the wall, Mookie Betts would have easily scored from second base with the tying run.
Instead, Delino DeShields raced back and caught the ball just before it would have hit the scoreboard.
“I thought it was off the wall. Tough luck,” Mike Napoli said.
The crowd at Fenway Park on Wednesday night groaned. From the fans to the players, the frustration was tangible during a 2-1 loss against the Texas Rangers.
“It’s getting ridiculous,” David Ortiz said. “We’ve been seeing that stuff the entire season. Our pitching has been outstanding lately. But even when we put a good swing on the ball, you see what happens. Not good.”
On a night when Joe Kelly and three relievers allowed two runs, the Sox left 12 runners on base and were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. For the sixth time in the last eight games, the Sox were held to two or fewer runs.
Through 40 games, a quarter of the season, the 19-21 Red Sox are averaging 3.9 runs and hitting .234. They are hitting .203 with runners in scoring position.
The Sox are averaging 2.4 runs this month and in the last two games have left 24 runners on base.
“We’ve hit the ball well. It’s going right at people. It’s stuff we can’t control,” Betts said. “Later on in the season hopefully those balls start to drop.”
The one bit of good news? The rest of the American League East is swimming in the same mud. The Sox are in third place, 2½ games out.
“I like where we are right now,” manager John Farrell said. “We’ve got guys healthy . . . I recognize where we are through 40 games in terms of the overall record. But this is an offense that we still believe in, is very strong.”
The roster is different but the Sox are muddling along much as they did last season. That team never figured it out.
“It kind of reminds me a lot of last year,” Xander Bogaerts said. “In the beginning we weren’t scoring runs, the same thing. Hopefully it turns around this year.”
After Pedroia lined out, the Rangers walked Ortiz intentionally to get to Hanley Ramirez.
Facing Shawn Tolleson, who had never saved a game, Ramirez hit the ball hard up the middle. Texas had Tommy Field positioned behind the bag and he tagged second to end the game.
Ramirez does not have an RBI in 57 at-bats this month and last hit a home run on April 29. Ortiz was intentionally walked once on Tuesday and twice Wednesday.
Until Ramirez proves that strategy is a mistake, opposing teams are going to put Ortiz on.
Kelly continued a run of strong starts for the Sox, allowing two runs on seven hits over seven innings on a night he wasn’t feeling well. He walked one and struck out seven.
“He threw the ball exceptionally well,” Farrell said.
Kelly’s biggest challenge came in the seventh inning. With one out and the Sox down by a run, Leonys Martin doubled off the wall in left field. When Ramirez retrieved the ball, he intended to throw to second but accidentally threw the ball into the ground as it slipped out of his hand, and Martin went to third on the Manny Ramirez-like error.
Kelly held Martin there, striking out Robinson Chirinos and Field. His final pitch was a 98-mile-per-hour fastball.
Rangers righthander Phil Klein had not started a major league game before. It was, in fact, only the fifth start in five years of professional baseball for the 26-year-old.
Klein handled himself admirably, allowing one run on five hits over 5⅓ innings.
Klein retired 11 of the first 13 batters before Napoli singled and Daniel Nava doubled with two outs in the sixth inning. With a chance to get his team going, Brock Holt popped up to third base.
Holt started at third base in place of Pablo Sandoval, who has a bone bruise on his left knee after getting hit by a pitch on Tuesday.
The Sox finally scored in the fifth inning when Bogaerts homered to left field, the ball sailing into the light tower.
Klein ventured into the sixth inning for the first time in his career and walked Ortiz. Ramirez lined out to right field before Napoli reached on an error by third baseman Adrian Beltre.
It was the second error in as many nights for Beltre, a four-time Gold Glove winner.
When Texas went to lefthander Alex Claudio, the Red Sox pinch hit for Nava with Shane Victorino.
Victorino saw 10 pitches, fouling off four two-strike pitches before grounding a single into left field to load the bases.
Holt again came up with runners in scoring position and this time struck out on five pitches. Bogaerts, facing Tanner Scheppers, hit the ball hard but lined out to center field.
“I hit that better than the home run,” Bogaerts said.
The Sox missed another chance in the seventh inning. Betts singled with one out and took third on a wild pitch. Pedroia, 6 for 39 with runners in scoring position, flied to right field. The Rangers intentionally walked Ortiz to get to Ramirez.
Ramirez hit the ball hard but his line drive up the middle was right at a perfectly positioned Field behind second base.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.