when Willson Contreras left the game<\/a> in the eighth inning after being hit in the hand by a pitch, but while the specter of his absence will loom over the club in the days to come, Trevor Story once again proved that you can never count this Red Sox team out.<\/p>\nThe veteran shortstop came through with a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning, flipping the script and giving the Red Sox a badly needed 4-3 win to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n
Story\u2019s shot came with one out against Rangers closer Jacob Latz, completing a three-run comeback and cutting Boston\u2019s magic number to clinch a playoff spot to three with nine games remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo steal that last one is huge,\u201d Story told NESN\u2019s Jahmai Webster postgame. \u201cIt\u2019s momentum we can ride out into Tampa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to Story\u2019s home run, Thursday was shaping up to be among the club\u2019s worst losses of the season.<\/p>\n
A hallmark of the offense\u2019s struggles early in the year was a lot of empty, uncompetitive at-bats, tons of swing and miss and a general inability to make good contact. Even with the Rangers opting for a bullpen game led by Cody Bradford, whose fastball averages just 88.6 mph, the Red Sox couldn\u2019t square anything up.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox only managed two hits through the first five innings, both singles in the fourth inning. That put runners at the corners with two outs, but Jarren Duran grounded out to squander the opportunity.<\/p>\n
It was a similar story in the sixth, when Wilyer Abreu singled and Adley Rutschman finally did some damage with a ground-rule double into the left-field gap. Had the ball stayed in play, Abreu probably would have scored, but instead the Red Sox had two men in scoring position for Story, who worked a full count and struck out to end the threat.<\/p>\n
The offense did nothing to pick up Sonny Gray, who wasn\u2019t perfect but did everything he could to keep the Red Sox in the game.<\/p>\n
The veteran right-hander allowed a solo home run to Josh Jung with two outs in the first, and in the second he walked the first two batters of the inning, both of whom came around to score on an RBI bloop single by Danny Jansen and a run-scoring squeeze bunt by Evan Carter.<\/p>\n
Gray settled down afterward and retired 14 of the last 16 batters he faced from the second inning into the seventh. He was charged with three runs over 6 1\/3 innings and limited the Rangers to three hits and three walks with six strikeouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was awesome,\u201d Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. \u201cThe only blemish was the two walks, we kind of walked ourselves into the part of their lineup where they can play baseball a little bit with bunts and they drop a flare into center and there\u2019s a safety squeeze, outside of that, that was a really, really good effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even when the Red Sox finally scored in the top of the seventh, they did so without recording a hit. Nate Eaton and Caleb Durbin led off with consecutive walks and Eaton advanced to third after Nick Sogard hit a rocket of a fly out to the center field wall. But with one out and a chance to fight back into the game, Roman Anthony grounded into a run-scoring fielder\u2019s choice to make it 3-1. He advanced to second after the Rangers threw away the double-play attempt, but Mickey Gasper grounded out to end the inning.<\/p>\n
Then came the eighth.<\/p>\n
Once again the Red Sox got two men on base right away, with Abreu drawing a leadoff walk before Contreras was hit in the right hand by a pitch. He immediately left the game with the trainer and was replaced at first by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but while the Red Sox worried about their slugger, the Rangers pulled Jakob Junis for their closer Latz, who has been among the most dominant closers in the American League this year.<\/p>\n
Latz drew a pop out from Rutschman, but then Story stepped up to the plate and everything changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see one of our guys keeled over holding his hand and you\u2019re down in the dumps seeing that and moments later the whole dugout erupts,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been doing much offensively for a few days and to get a swing right there and feel like you steal a game, it was enormous. Big emotion swing.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the lead in hand, Wyatt Olds and Alec Gamboa pitched a scoreless eighth, and with Aroldis Chapman unavailable, Garrett Whitlock came on for the ninth and locked down the save for the win. Story and Sogard turned inning-ending double plays in both the eighth and the ninth to ensure the Rangers couldn\u2019t mount one last comeback.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood teams find a way to win and we\u2019ve been doing that in the second half and that\u2019s kind of who you become,\u201d Story said. \u201cAnd you feel that momentum, you feel that vibe around the game and we never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
X-rays negative, Chapman day-to-day<\/p>\n
The Red Sox got some good news postgame when X-rays on Contreras\u2019 hand came back negative.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a bruise on the hand and some swelling,\u201d Tracy said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll just take it day to day and see how he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tracy also confirmed that Chapman has been dealing with some lat tightness for the past few days and they are taking a conservative approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting better but have to make sure it gets there, that\u2019s why he wasn\u2019t available tonight,\u201d Tracy said, adding that an IL stint isn\u2019t being considered for Chapman right now.<\/p>\n
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