BOSTON -- After a few big injuries, health was finally on the Rangers’ side over the past few weeks as they worked their way back to .500 for the first time since May 1.
Then they arrived in Boston and Corey Seager was out of the lineup with rib and jaw soreness, and five innings into Friday’s series opener, Evan Carter was forced from the action with right oblique tightness.
Down a few key bats, the offense struggled after a hot start and Texas fell, 10-1.
“It is part of the game,” said manager Skip Schumaker postgame. “We’ve had some big guys go down, unfortunately. Evan’s playing such a good center field. … Not having Corey again today, that definitely changes the lineup. But we feel we have enough in the lineup to score runs.”
Carter’s removal from Friday’s game came after he made an outstanding catch in center field with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a shallow fly ball that was quickly dying and looked as if it might find the turf before Carter came swooping in with a head-first dive to secure the out and keep Texas within a run for the time being.
In the landing, the Rangers’ center fielder’s body got twisted up, causing soreness in his right side. He and the club decided it was best not to test swinging.
“I kind of landed in a way where my hips twisted way more than what my upper body was twisted at the moment,” said Carter, who was 0-for-2 with two strikeouts in the game. “You don’t really know in that moment what’s going on. You just got to play it by ear for right now, icing it a bit, and tomorrow we’ll see where we’re at.”
Seager was just getting back into the swing of things after missing 19 games with a back strain.
In five games since his return, the shortstop hit safely in four of them and had two home runs, but a collision at home plate in Thursday’s game at Kansas City made for a tough morning on Friday.
“He’s a little banged up after the collision at home plate yesterday,” Schumaker explained pregame. “Ribs, jaw, kind of felt like today was a good day to be off. He’s day-to-day. He felt bad when he woke up. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow.”
Both players' absence was felt, first on the offensive side, where the Texas bats had just six hits on the day and at one point went 14 straight batters without getting on base.
On the defensive side, Nicky Lopez was moved from second base to left field and Wyatt Langford shifted over to center. Then Boston opened the fifth with three straight doubles to the Green Monster, making both players work overtime.
Despite having a 1-0 lead to work with out of the gate, starter Jack Leiter struggled, allowing two runs in the first and another four in the fifth as he battled control issues that pushed his pitch count up early.
“To start the game with the four-pitch walk is the opposite of setting the tone,” said Leiter. “I would say after that, the fastball command was better, but I dug myself a hole in that first inning.”
“The first inning was kind of a sign that it wasn’t going to go well,” said Schumaker. “The first-batter walk and then he just couldn’t find his fastball tonight. He ended up spinning the ball more than usual to get him back into counts and to get back into innings. The high pitch count throughout the game got him out of there after the fifth inning.”
While the Rangers will look to push this loss quickly behind them, they must now wait to see what Saturday morning brings in terms of who might be available.