Three Is the Magic Number

Again, it doesn’t matter, but the Red Sox beat the Rangers on Thursday night, 4-3, and lowered their magic number to clinch a Wild Card spot to three.

The game looked like it would be more of the same down in Texas, as the Rangers jumped out to an early lead against Sonny Gray. A solo homer by Josh Jung in the first, followed by a pair of runs in the second that all stemmed from back-to-back walks to lead off the frame, had the Sox staring at a sweep at the hands of the Rangers.

Gray was able to regain his form and complete 6.1 innings, allowing only those three runs, but the offense appeared content to sit this game out for the majority of it. In fact, after the rocky beginning, Gray allowed just one more hit the rest of the night and kept the Red Sox within striking distance.

The Sox bats didn’t record a hit until the fourth, when Willson Contreras singled to right-center field. Two more scoreless innings followed until Boston was finally able to manufacture a run thanks to a pair of walks to Nate Eaton and Caleb Durbin, followed by a deep fly ball from Nick Sogard and then a slow fielder’s-choice groundout by Roman Anthony.

In the top of the eighth, Boston finally broke through for a crooked number, again thanks in part to some wildness by the Rangers’ pitching staff.

Wilyer Abreu worked a leadoff walk, and then Contreras was drilled on the hand by a pitch. After Adley Rutschman fouled out to first, Trevor Story got a breaking ball that didn’t dive quite far enough out of the zone and drove it over the left-field fence for his second hit of the day and a three-run homer to give Boston…