Langford, Higashioka strike early blows in support of Eovaldi

BOSTON -- The big hit eluded the Rangers for the first two games of their series against the Red Sox, noted by the fact they scored a combined four runs in the two losses.

Sunday night, however, the Texas bats wasted literally zero time in getting things going, and the big hits were enough for the Rangers to depart Fenway Park with a 6-4 victory.

Wyatt Langford got the festivities off to a roaring start, smoking the first pitch of the game 418 feet over the Green Monster seats and onto Lansdowne Street.

After a pair of singles to start the second inning, the second big blow of the night came off the bat of Kyle Higashioka, a 381-foot, three-run homer into the Monster seats for a 4-0 lead.

“Up and down the lineup we’re having good, aggressive at-bats but still swinging at pitches we can drive,” said Higashioka. “[We’re] just keeping that aggressive approach but not trying to expand the zone too much.”

Boston cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second, but two innings later, Brandon Nimmo put Texas back up by four with a two-out, two-run double off the wall in left.

The team hit safely in each of the first seven innings, had at least two hits in each of the first five innings and 13 hits total on the night, their second straight game with double-digit hits, though nine of their 10 hits on Saturday were singles.

“Higgy with the huge hit,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “Obviously, it was nice to get a three-run homer, but the Nimmo double was huge. ... For Nimmo to go the other way off the wall, broke it open. There were a lot of really good at bats. We did not want to get beat by the fastball today. We accomplished our goal.”

The Rangers also got a boost from an electric atmosphere that saw thousands of Scottish soccer fans – the Tartan Army – descend upon Fenway Park a night after their team won their FIFA World Cup opening round matchup against Haiti, 1-0, at nearby Gillette Stadium (or Boston Stadium, as it’s officially being called during the tournament).

“That was a pretty cool atmosphere,” said Schumaker. “I said my bucket list is to be at a European game one day with my kids and that was probably as close to it as you can get as far as the atmosphere. That was pretty special.”

“It reminded me of the ’21 postseason game,” said Nathan Eovaldi, who is no stranger to pitching in intense environments at this ballpark. “It was a super electric crowd, and I feel like it heightens the focus when I go out there.”

The Rangers’ starter did an excellent job of working around danger, getting a pair of double plays to help his cause. That included a biggie from Jake Burger, who fielded a grounder at first, got the forceout at the bag and then fired to home to retire Masataka Yoshida and end the third inning.

“For him to do what he did tonight was huge,” said Schumaker. “We have a string of games here with not many off-days, so we need our starters to go deep. Evo and deGrom provided that for us in a big way.”

“Even though we got punched a little bit early, you can always count on him to rein it back in and go have a really strong start,” said Higashioka. “Seven innings right there is huge.”

Eovaldi allowed just six hits, struck out six over seven innings and improved to 6-7 on the season. Texas pulled back to one game under .500 before heading back home to face the Twins in a three-game series that kicks off Monday night.

“I felt really good tonight,” said the veteran hurler. “We were able to make some good plays behind me. Burger had that nice ball where he was able to catch it, touch the bag and get the out at home.”