Red Sox Seek Sweep As Rangers Vs Red Sox Returns To Fenway

The red sox vs red sox? No — the Red Sox are trying to finish a rare home sweep of the Rangers on Sunday after Saturday’s 4-2 win pushed them to two straight victories. Boston entered the day 2-8-1 in home series this season, so a third win would be one of its cleanest home sets of the year.

Tracy Wants More At Fenway

Chad Tracy said Boston has to play better at home if it is going to climb out of the American League East cellar. He also said, "It’s been a minute (since a home series win) and it feels good" before adding, "It’s no secret. We all know we have to play better at home. We played two really good ball games and now have a chance to go sweep a series. It feels good for the guys for sure."

The Red Sox created that chance with a seventh-inning push on Saturday. Ceddanne Rafaela delivered a two-run go-ahead single with two outs, and Jarren Duran followed with a two-run homer in the eighth.

Eovaldi And Early

Connelly Early was scheduled to make his first career appearance against the Rangers and take the ball for Boston with a 5-4 record and a 3.30 ERA. Nathan Eovaldi was set to start for Texas with a 5-7 record and a 4.26 ERA.

Eovaldi had also made 12 appearances, including 11 starts, against one of his former teams and was 4-1 with a 4.68 ERA in those games. On the other side, the Rangers were listed with Wyatt Langford at designated hitter and had scored just four runs in the first two games of the series.

Rangers Lose Helman

Texas also had to account for Michael Helman leaving Saturday’s game after being hit by a pitch on his right hand in the eighth inning. Skip Schumaker said Helman has multiple fractures in at least one finger, if not two, and said, "He will be out for a bit, (the pitch) got him pretty good."

Jake Burger added another mark to the Rangers’ series line by hitting his 100th career home run on Saturday, and he entered Sunday leading Texas with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs. The Rangers were trying to answer a lineup that had already taken control late and left them with only four runs through two games.

Boston’s task was straightforward: finish the sweep and keep moving up from a home-series start that had gone 2-8-1. A win would give the Red Sox another clean result at Fenway and extend the pressure on a Texas club that had already been held down across the first two games.