ARLINGTON, Texas - Ezequiel Duran waited for the double to land, then finished the inning.
After Brandon Nimmo broke a 3-3 tie with a seventh-inning double, Duran singled home two runs and the Texas Rangers poured across three in the frame on the way to a 7-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field, the Associated Press reported.
ESPN's box has Duran 1-for-4 with two RBI and two strikeouts - the hit that turned a one-run lead into breathing room.
Seventh inning, two swings
Erik Miller (4-1) was Boston's pitcher of record for the loss. Nimmo's double put Texas ahead; Duran's single scored the runners that made it a three-run seventh. Nathan Eovaldi then worked four scoreless innings of relief - one hit, no walks, one strikeout - retiring his last 11 batters to lock down his 11th win, per the AP and matching CBS Sports' pitching line.
The Rangers had spent the early innings trading punches. Willson Contreras' 27th homer made it 2-0 Boston in the first. Justin Foscue and Jake Burger answered with doubles, Foscue later singled home the tying run in the fourth, and Wyatt Langford's RBI single in the fifth kept Texas close before a Jakob Junis balk briefly put Boston back in front 3-2.
Contact over power
Duran's night was not a three-hit showcase. Josh Jung went 3-for-5. Burger finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Foscue was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Duran's value was the two-run single with the game already tilted - the swing the AP paired with Nimmo's double in the lede. In a September race, that is often the difference between a one-run lead that invites a ninth-inning problem and a three-run cushion a bulk reliever can close.
MacKenzie Gore started and lasted four innings with two hits, three runs, three walks and no strikeouts. Texas improved to 76-76, completed a four-game winning streak and reached .500 for the first time since Aug. 24. Houston's 5-2 loss to Kansas City left the clubs tied atop the AL West; the Astros still own the head-to-head tiebreaker, the AP noted.
