BOSTON — The Red Sox failed to turn a routine 4-6-3 double play in the ninth inning that would have ended the game.
Rangers’ Wyatt Langford, the next batter, then smashed a game-tying three-run homer off Josh Winckowski. Boston went on to lose 9-7 to Texas in 10 innings here at Fenway Park.
First baseman Romy Gonzalez took his foot off the bag too early when receiving the throw from shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela, allowing Nathaniel Lowe to reach base and putting runners at the corners with two outs.
Manager Alex Cora thought Rafaela’s throw to first base was high and led to Gonzalez’s foot coming off the bag early. It was about a head-high throw.
“The throw was up,” Cora said. “I mean, hard to go from center field to shortstop in the middle of the inning. It’s not giving mulligans but it’s not that easy what he’s doing.”
Rafaela had moved from center field to shortstop during the ninth because second baseman Nick Sogard left the game after back-to-back singles by the Rangers to lead off the inning.
Sogard had fouled a ball off his calf earlier. Cora said Sogard’s calf tightened while he was in the field.
David Hamilton moved from shortstop to second base. Jarren Duran moved from left field to center field with Rafaela moving to shortstop. Rob Refsnyder entered the game in left field.
“Obviously he (Rafaela) expects to turn that double play but we didn’t do it,” Cora said. “At the same time, it’s not that easy with all the moving parts, especially late in the game.”
Gonzalez was asked if the throw was too high for him to keep his foot on the bag.
“I believe so. I’ve gotta go back and look at it but I think so, yeah,” Gonzalez said.
The blown three-run lead in the ninth inning came after Danny Jansen’s RBI single and Gonzalez’s two-run double in the eighth inning helped the Red Sox take a 7-4 lead.
“Overall, just a tough loss,” Gonzalez said.
Winckowski said he wasn’t thinking that Lowe’s groundball to David Hamilton would turn into a game-ending double play.
“I haven’t really thought about that,” Winckowski said. “Hammy had to go a little bit to his left. So any time a guy’s gotta go left to right, it makes it tight.”
Langford’s home run against Winckowski came on a cutter middle-in.
“It sucks when you locate almost every pitch in an inning and then kind of the one you mess up, it’s hit for a home run,” Winckowski said. “We were trying to be kind of away and it just ended up inside.”
Jonah Heim’s two-run homer off Zack Kelly in the 10th put the Rangers ahead 9-7.
Kelly left a cutter over the middle of the plate.
“Trying to go in,” Kelly said. “It kind of ran into his barrel. Off the bat, I didn’t think he got it. I guess it carried out. But in that situation, trying to just pound the zone on the first pitch.”
