It’s the conclusion of a weekend series on the diamond between a pair of American League teams outside the playoff picture up in Beantown. The Texas Rangers are on the road as they close out a four-game series with the Boston Red Sox Sunday afternoon. Boston took the first two games of the series, rallying for a 9-8 victory on Thursday night in the series opener before rolling to a 9-1 victory on Friday night in the second game of the set to ensure no worse than a split. Which team comes up with the victory on getaway day to head into Labor Day with some momentum? This article was published prior to the conclusion of the third game of the series at Fenway Park Saturday.
Texas lost their sixth straight game as they were drubbed in the second game of the series on Friday night. The Rangers entered Saturday third in the AL West, 26.5 games behind the Astros for the top spot in the division race. They were 13.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the final wild card spot in the American League playoff picture. On Friday night, Marcus Semien and Nathaniel Lowe each had two hits in the game though the rest of the team went two of 25 in the contest. Dallas Keuchel (2-9) took the loss on the mound as he was tagged for seven runs on seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
Dane Dunning takes the ball for his 26th start of the year for the Rangers in this contest. He is 3-7 with a 4.16 ERA, a 1.396 WHIP, 53 walks and 117 strikeouts over 134 innings of action on the year. Dunning took the loss in his last start, which came Tuesday at home against the Astros. He threw five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts in a game the Rangers dropped by a 4-2 count. In his last three starts, Dunning is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, six walks and 13 strikeouts over 16 innings of work. This marks his third career start against the Red Sox in this contest. He is 0-2 with an 8.71 ERA, a 1.742 WHIP, three walks and seven strikeouts over 10.1 innings of work. His lone start at Fenway Park, which came on August 20, 2021, ended in a loss. Dunning allowed five runs on nine hits with one walk and one strikeout over 4.2 innings in a 6-0 Rangers defeat.