After getting two wins in the series, the Red Sox had a chance to win all three games against the Rangers, but missed out on Wednesday, dropping the final game 9-7 in ten innings.
It was another wasted starting effort for the Sox and particularly for Tanner Houck, who allowed two earned runs over 6.2 innings before departing for an increasingly wobbly bullpen.
Boston had taken a three-run lead to break a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth. Josh Winckowski came in the game in the ninth and got two outs before allowing a game-tying home run from Nathaniel Lowe. In the tenth, a Jonah Heim home run off Sox reliever Zack Kelly delivered a two-run lead that sealed the Texas win.
For Houck, it was the sixth time this season that he has missed a chance at a win despite a solid outing of six or more innings with two or fewer earned runs allowed. Just two American Leaguers this season have had more such missed opportunities (Royals Cole Ragans has had eight such games, and Mariners Logan Gilbert has had nine).
Before Houck this year, the last Red Sox pitcher to miss out on winning decisions in six or more games in which they worked six or more innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs was Chris Sale in 2019. For Sale it was also six games, but over the entire season.