BOSTON -- The Bret Boone era is off to a hot start.
After dismissing offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker on Sunday and hiring Bret Boone as hitting coach on Monday, the Rangers opened the series at Fenway Park with a resounding 6-1 victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night.
It’s the first time the Rangers have won back-to-back games since a three-game sweep of the Angels from April 15-17.
“It's an interesting game,” said designated hitter Joc Pederson. “The smallest things can have the biggest change. You're never that far off. It's never as bad as you think. I think it's unfortunate that happened. Donnie put his blood, sweat and tears into us. But obviously they moved on, and with Boonie coming in, it’s new, fresh vocabulary, language, conversations and outlook on the offensive side. I think we take it and run with it and make the best of it. We're off to a good start.”
Entering the day, Texas had scored four or more runs in 13 of its 35 games this year, the third-fewest in MLB, behind the Rockies (10) and White Sox (11). The club is 12-1 when it scores four or more runs in 2025, but is 5-17 (.227) when scoring three or fewer runs this season. In its last 10 games entering the day, the Rangers had either scored eight or more (2-0 in two games), or two or fewer (1-7 in eight games).
Tuesday’s offensive outburst was carried by a five-run fourth inning, marking the most in a single inning on the road this season and biggest road inning since another five-run frame on Aug. 10, 2024, at Yankee Stadium.
It was also the first time for Texas to record as many as seven hits in a single inning this season (home or road), and most hits in a single road frame since May 7, 2020 in Oakland. (nine hits in the second inning).
The Rangers’ 6-0 lead after the fourth inning matched their largest lead in a road game this season (April 22 vs Oakland -- led 8-2 in 6th).
A season-high six batters recorded multi-hit games and all but one starter reached base.
“I think anybody who wants to help this group, we will take the help,” second baseman Marcus Semien said. “I think with this slow start we've had, there's people like Boonie who can maybe throw something out there we haven't heard. We have a group that's good enough to hear something small and have it click and then we ride that into September and October. I'm going to continue to pick his brain and try and get something to get me hot.”
Boone’s hiring obviously didn’t magically fix the Rangers’ offense. But he’s obviously brought a new voice and vibe to the clubhouse.
Boone has no previous coaching experience, but he has 14 years of big league experience and comes from a baseball family. The game has changed a lot over the years, but the Rangers believe that Boone is the right person to get the offense going on a consistent basis.
“I don't want him to be concerned with being up on all the analytics,” manager Bruce Bochy said pregame. “We have that covered with [hitting coach] Justin Viele. We don't need somebody like that right now. We wanted somebody that has the wisdom and knowledge that he can bring out these players. He’s going to give them another voice, another way of hearing something.
“He'll get caught up with some of the analytics, but really that's not why he's coming in here. The analytics are great, but we just wanted somebody that you know can help them through hitting with his own experiences.”