Walker Buehler Struggles, Rafael Devers Ks 3 More Times in 4-3 Red Sox Loss to Rangers

Call it Walker Buehler’s Off Day.

The new Red Sox righty made his first start on his new team but did not ma5th inning as the Red Sox fell to the Ranters 4-3 in Arlington, their second loss out of the first 3 games of the new season.

It was tough sledding out of the gate for Buehler as he allowed 2 runs in his first Red Sox inning on a 2 RBI double off the bat of Adolis Garcia. He briefly settled in, tossing a scoreless 2nd and 3rd before Garcia tagged him again in the 4th, this time on a solo home run. In the 5th, the Rangers added another earned run before chasing Buehler who’s final line read. 4 1/3 innings pitched, 7 hits, 4 runs and 3 strikeouts.

“Well, definitely not the start in this uniform that we were looking for,” Buehler said, “it’s disappointing, but at the end of the day we hopefully got 30 or 32 more of them, so not the start we wanted but hopefully improve the next one.”

The Red Sox offense didn’t do Buehler any favors. They chased starting pitcher Tyler Mahle after 1 2/3 inninfs forcing the Rangers to use 6 different pitchers. Despite having 13 runners reach base (7 hits and 6 walks) the Sox were 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base, five in scoring position.

“We didn’t cash in,” Sox Manager Alex Cora said postgame, “I think the bottom part of the lineup did a good job of getting on base and doing all the stuff. The big boys, they didn’t cash in, but I’m pleased with the quality of the at bats…we’re not chasing that much, we’re just getting beat in the zone and we just gotta be on time with the fastball.”

One of those big boys, Rafael Devers earned a bases loaded walk in the second to push home a run but struck out 3 more times. Devers continues to look completely overmatched at the plate through games, unable to catch up to batting practice speed fastballs.  Through 2 games the Sox new DH is 0 for 12 with 10 strikeouts.

The one bright spot of the stagnant Sox offense was the continued hot start to Kristian Campbell’s career, as he added two more hits, including his first MLB home run. A 431 foot missile to center in the 4th off of Jacob Webb to tie the game up at 2. Three games into his young career, Campbell is hitting .500 with a .900 slugging percentage.

After starting the first two games at second base, Campbell moved to left field on Saturday and almost came up with a highlight reel gap on a ball destined for the gap in left center. Campbell sprinted to his left and laid our for what looked at first to be a spectacular diving grab, but the ball popped out of his glove resulting in an RBI double.

“Very disappointing, especially for me,” Campbell said. “I was definitely frustrated when I picked up my glove after it hit the ground.”

“[Campbell’s] feeling better and better.” added Cora, “He’s on pitches, the walk before [the home run] was very impressive. He’s feeling good about himself, he almost made one of the best catches that we have seen…he’s feeling good, we’ll keep playing him. Move him around and obviously take care of him when we have to.”

The Sox bullpen was also impressive in the loss, not allowing another Rangers run after Buehler’s departure, and doing all they could to keep within striking distance.

Boston will finish up the series with Texas tomorrow at 2:35 PM before heading to Baltimore to face the Orioles on Monday.