Reeling Red Sox look to subdue suddenly productive Rangers

The Boston Red Sox will enter Wednesday’s game against the visiting Texas Rangers playing like a team in need of a jolt, but don’t expect to see any type of shake up that includes Rafael Devers playing first base.

Prior to Boston’s 6-1 loss to Texas on Tuesday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora reiterated that the team has no plans to use Devers at first base to replace Triston Casas, who will miss the rest of the season following knee surgery.

Cora said he has not had a conversation with Devers about the possibility of moving him to first base and doesn’t intend to have one.

“I’m not concerned,” Cora said, even though Tuesday’s loss was Boston’s fifth in the last six games. “It’s part of the season. Are we happy with what’s going on? Of course not. We believe we’re better, and it hasn’t happened, right? But we’re gonna keep working. We’re gonna be better. We know that. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”

It appears the Red Sox will use a platoon of Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro to replace Casas – at least for the short term. Gonzalez has started eight games at first base this season. Toro, who was called up from Triple-A Worcester on Saturday, made his first start at first base for Boston on Tuesday night and went 1-for-3 at the plate.

“We’re staying the course,” Cora said. “We got these two guys here. Romy has done an amazing job in his starts over there. We’ll keep going that way.”

Toro, 28, hit .310 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 28 games with Worcester.

“A good at-bat. Good defender. Versatile,” Cora said when asked about Toro. “He has a pretty good idea offensively. He knows what he wants to do. He hunts pitches in certain areas and he executes. He’s patient, he can slow it down.”

The Rangers have scored 14 runs in their last two games after they were held to 30 runs during a 2-9 stretch. Texas scored half of those 30 runs in a victory over the Athletics on April 29.

Texas had 16 hits in Tuesday’s win, which was the team’s first game since it hired Bret Boone as hitting coach. Josh Smith has seven hits in his last two games.

“I’m going to do a lot of listening right now, which is not my forte,” Boone said. “I want to listen now and speak less and get to know these guys, see what makes them tick. It’s a different game now. These kids come up in a different culture. There’s more data. There’s a lot of numbers, which I didn’t have in my time. But at the end of the day, it’s still hitting. Hitting is really hard. You can talk in whatever verbiage you want, but hitting still hasn’t changed in 150 years.”

Texas will send right-hander Tyler Mahle (3-1, 1.19 ERA) to the mound for the middle contest of the three-game series. Mahle has a 4.26 ERA with a pair of no-decisions in two career starts against the Red Sox.

Righty Tanner Houck (0-2, 6.38 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Boston. Houck is 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA in his lone career appearance versus the Rangers.

–Field Level Media