BOSTON — As Sunday night’s first pitch approached, the Tartan Army descended upon Fenway Park.
Fresh off their country’s 1-0 World Cup victory over Haiti down the road in Foxborough, Mass., thousands of Scottish fans marched to the historic ballpark and packed it to the gills. From the moment the gates opened until the final out of Sunday’s 6-4 Boston Red Sox loss to the Texas Rangers, the sound of bagpipes, singing and chanting filled the air.
Even with a rocky start by the home team, it was one of the most electric Fenway Park crowds in recent memory.
The Scottish fans were certainly treated to a lot of action, including a combined four home runs by the two teams and a late comeback attempt by the Red Sox.
The tone was set early when Rangers slugger Wyatt Langford greeted Red Sox starting pitcher Connelly Early with a solo home run on the first pitch of the game. It was the second leadoff homer Early has allowed this season and gave Texas an immediate 1-0 edge.
That proved to be a sign of things to come.
After allowing a pair of singles to start the top of the second, Early allowed another home run, this one a three-run shot to the Green Monster by Kyle Higashioka that made it a 4-0 game. With that second homer, Early has now allowed 14 home runs in 14 starts this season, along with multiple shots in four of his last six.
The Red Sox got in on the action in the bottom of the second. Willson Contreras led off the inning with a leadoff solo shot of his own, and the Red Sox added another when Caleb Durbin walked, advanced to third on a Isiah Kiner-Falefa single and a wild pitch by Rangers starter and former Red Sox great Nathan Eovaldi, and scored on a groundout by Marcelo Mayer that cut the deficit to 4-2.
Boston nearly cut the deficit to one in the third after Masataka Yoshida doubled and advanced to third on a groundout, but Rangers first baseman Jake Burger made a brilliant defensive play, fielding a bouncing ball from Wilyer Abreu at first for the force out and making a perfect throw home to nail Yoshida for the inning-ending double play.
Early was never able to effectively settle down.
Though he stranded runners at the corners in the third, Early loaded the bases again in the fourth after walking back-to-back batters and allowed a two-run double to Brandon Nimmo. He pitched into the fifth and finished his outing with a career-worst six runs allowed over 4 2/3 innings, giving up 11 hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
The last few outings in particular have been rocky for the Red Sox rookie. After posting a 2.95 ERA through his first 11 starts of the season, Early has now allowed 12 earned runs over 14 2/3 innings (7.36 ERA) in his last three.
After the second inning the Red Sox offense went cold against Eovaldi, who drew a second inning-ending double play in the fourth and kept Boston off the board until the sixth when Contreras went deep again for his second solo shot of the game and his 16th home run of the season.
Contreras is now on pace to hit 37 home runs, which would blow past his previous career-high of 24 set in 2019.
Even with the second bomb, Eovaldi still finished a strong outing with three runs allowed over seven innings, including six hits, a walk and five strikeouts.
But after the 2018 World Series champion left the game, the Red Sox made their push.
Yoshida sparked the eighth-inning rally with a one-out base hit and came around to score on Abreu’s subsequent RBI single to make it 6-4. Contreras singled to put the tying run on base, but Jarren Duran grounded out to first to end the threat.
The Red Sox had one more chance in the ninth but couldn’t complete the rally, going down 1-2-3 against Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz and allowing Texas to avert the series sweep.
Cultural exchange
Between innings, during pitching changes and whenever they felt like it, the Tartan Army made its presence felt. The Scottish fans belted out “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers, “Take Me Home Country Roads” by John Denver and “Hey Baby” by DJ Otzi before first pitch, and once the game started the chant “No Scotland No Party” was ever-present.
The Scots also enthusiastically dove into “Dancing Queen” by ABBA later in the game, seemingly singing loudly enough to be heard across the city.
Not to be outdone, the home fans made sure to get some Fenway Park staples in, most notably The Wave, “Let’s Go Red Sox” and “Yankees Suck.” The two groups came together late to sing “Sweet Caroline” and “Mr. Brightside” in unison, and during the eighth and ninth innings the Scottish contingent launched into their own “Let’s Go Red Sox” chants to try and give their adopted club an extra push.