ARLINGTON, Texas -- Hanley Ramirez homered for the second night in succession, but the Boston Red Sox bullpen struggled in a 7-4 loss to the Texas Rangers Friday night before 38,176 at Globe Life Park.
The Sox trailed 5-2 in the eighth when Ramirez cleared the right-field wall with Mookie Betts on base. Later in the inning, first baseman Mike Napoli and manager John Farrell were ejected after Napoli was called out on strikes.
Dustin Pedroia was perturbed when Todd Tichenor rung him up on a called third strike in the seventh inning. Farrell, still in the game at that point, got between the two.
What it means: The Sox (22-27) lost for the fourth time in five games on the road trip. The bullpen was stung for four runs. The Sox were obviously not pleased with Tichenor.
Solid start: Take Josh Hamilton out of the equation and Sox starter Steven Wright's performance grade would improve at least a letter. In 5 2/3 innings, Wright allowed five hits and three runs. Hamilton, playing in his second home game since being reacquired, touched Wright for near-identical solo home runs in the second and fourth innings.
Extra outs: The Sox were essentially handed two extra outs in the fourth inning when Rangers pitcher Yovani Gallardo threw errantly to second base on what likely was to be a double play. Instead of two outs and a runner on third, the Sox had the bases loaded with no outs. Xander Bogaerts cut the Texas lead to 2-1 with a sacrifice fly and Blake Swihart followed with an RBI single to tie it.
Leaking bullpen: Relievers Alexi Ogando and Craig Breslow both surrendered RBI hits in the seventh inning. Ogando faced four batters and gave up hits to three but minimized the damage with a pickoff at second base. Hanser Alberto tripled in Texas’ fourth run with his first major league hit. Leonys Martin greeted Breslow with a ground single up the middle. Robinson Chirinos doubled off Matt Barnes for the final two Texas runs.
Catch of the day: Left fielder Brock Holt made a highlight-reel catch of a curving foul ball off the bat of Shin-Soo Choo to end the third inning. Holt made a long run just to have a play on the ball, then went into a slide at the foul line. He made a backhand catch near the wall with a lot of baseball showing in the web of his glove.
Moving target: Just as throwing the knuckleball is an art, so is catching the dancing pitch. Blake Swihart did a solid job for the most part, but the oversized mitt could not help the young catcher on a third-inning wild pitch that allowed Texas to score its second run. The ball dropped so suddenly that Swihart found himself trying to slap the ball down as it scooted to the screen.
Still streaking: Pedroia extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games with a third-inning single. He batted leadoff for the seventh consecutive game.
Up next: Wade Miley (4-4, 4.47 ERA) is the scheduled Sox starter for Game 3 of the series set for 7:15 p.m. ET Saturday. The Rangers counter with right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez, a call-up from Triple-A Round Rock. It will be the major league debut for the 23-year-old Gonzalez, 3-5 with a 4.15 ERA at Round Rock.