The Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 7–3 on Wednesday, 16 September, at Globe Life Field and pulled even with the Houston Astros atop the American League West, ESPN, Reuters (Field Level Media), and Associated Press (via CBS Sports and ABC News) reported. Texas’s record after the win stood at 76–76 — four straight wins and .500 for the first time since 66–66 on 24 August — after Houston lost 5–2 at home to the Kansas City Royals. Houston also sits 76–76 and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, those wires said.
Brandon Nimmo’s RBI double and Ezequiel Duran’s two-run single produced three runs in the seventh against Erik Miller (4-1), breaking a 3–3 tie. Reuters FLM said Nimmo drove in Corey Seager for a 4–3 lead, then Duran singled home Jake Burger and Nimmo to make it 6–3. Nathan Eovaldi (11-9) threw four scoreless relief innings, allowed one hit, and finished the game retiring his last 11 batters on the AP/ABC frame — his second appearance since missing a month with elbow inflammation, ESPN and AP said. Seager’s RBI single in the eighth extended the lead to 7–3 on the Reuters card.
Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer — his team-high 27th — off MacKenzie Gore in the first to put Boston up 2–0, Reuters and ESPN reported. Justin Foscue doubled on Jake Bennett’s first pitch and scored on Burger’s ground-rule double to cut it to 2–1 in the first; Foscue’s RBI single tied it 2–2 in the fourth; Wyatt Langford’s two-out single off Greg Weissert scored Josh Jung to forge 3–3 in the fifth after Boston had gone ahead 3–2 on a Jakob Junis balk that scored Caleb Durbin, those accounts said. Gore lasted four-plus innings: three runs, two hits, three walks, zero strikeouts on the Reuters line. Bennett allowed three runs on eight hits in 4⅔ with seven strikeouts.
Boston (82–70) was limited to three hits and has lost five of seven on the ESPN frame; the same card said the Red Sox hold the second AL wild card by five games over the Chicago White Sox. Josh Jung had three of Texas’s 13 hits; Burger and Foscue each added two on Reuters. AP/ABC noted Texas had 10 games left when it forged the first-place tie. Miller was the third of four Red Sox pitchers and worked the seventh when the Rangers scored three, ESPN said. Gore’s start was his 32nd of the season, tied for most in the majors on that ESPN line. Attendance was 26,364 and game time 2:42 on the ESPN game page.
Named actors locked to the wires: Nimmo (RBI double, seventh); Duran (two-run single); Eovaldi (11-9, four scoreless IP, one hit); Contreras (two-run HR, 27th); Miller (4-1 L); Seager, Burger, Foscue, Langford, Jung, Gore, Bennett, Junis, Durbin. The desk does not invent October seeding beyond the published first-place tie and Houston’s H2H tiebreaker. The checkable record is 7–3 at Globe Life Field, a 76–76 Rangers club level with Houston, three seventh-inning runs on Nimmo and Duran, and Eovaldi’s published relief line.
What comes next is checkable: the Rangers–Red Sox series finale Thursday at Globe Life Field with Sonny Gray listed for Boston on the ESPN “up next” line; published AL West standings with Texas and Houston both 76–76; Houston’s 5–2 loss to Kansas City on Wednesday’s box; Thursday’s Astros schedule as published.
Floor: Rangers 7–3 Red Sox at Globe Life; Nimmo RBI 2B + Duran 2-run 1B in 7th (3 runs); Eovaldi 11-9, 4 scoreless relief IP, 1 hit; TEX 76–76 four straight, tie HOU 76–76 (HOU H2H TB); Contreras 2-run HR (27); BOS 82–70.