Red Sox bullpen in spotlight against shaky Rangers offense

The Boston Red Sox will bring a fragile bullpen into Tuesday's game against the visiting Texas Rangers to open a three-game series.

Boston began the week tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for most blown saves in Major League Baseball (eight), even though closer Aroldis Chapman has converted each of his four opportunities.

The bullpen's most recent meltdown came on Sunday in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox had a 3-1 lead until right-hander Garrett Whitlock gave up a game-tying two-run single to Ryan Jeffers in the seventh inning. Right-hander Justin Slaten took the loss when he allowed two runs in the eighth.

"If you look at the pitch to Jeffers, it was right down the middle," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "He hung an offspeed pitch in the middle."

Whitlock had a streak of six straight scoreless outings before he surrendered a game-tying three-run homer to Anthony Santander that helped the Toronto Blue Jays overcome a six-run deficit and beat Boston 7-6 on Wednesday. Slaten gave up a go-ahead three-run homer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the eighth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday.

"Tough week for the bullpen," Cora said. "But they've got good stuff. They're good pitchers. We just have to make adjustments."

It was a tough week for the Rangers' offense as well, although they are coming off Sunday's 8-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Before that win, Texas failed to score more than two runs in eight of its previous nine games.

The Rangers, who fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker following Sunday's win, have scored 113 runs this season, the fewest in the American League. The team announced the hiring of former All-Star Bret Boone as its hitting coach on Tuesday.

"The timely hitting is what we've been missing," Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. "We had a lot of that (Sunday) -- a lot of two-out hits. A lot of good things throughout that lineup. Everybody made a contribution. We weren't trying to do too much, slugging or anything. Base hits, base hits, base hits. That's winning baseball.

"That's what we've been missing. We've had opportunities, games where we've had chances, just couldn't cash in. (Sunday) we cashed in."

Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito (0-0, 4.50 ERA) is scheduled to make his second start. He allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and struck out seven in six innings when Boston coughed up a six-run lead in Wednesday's 7-6 loss to the Blue Jays.

"I think if Gio throws the ball like that the whole season, we're going to be in good shape," Cora said.

Giolito didn't pitch last season because of a partial tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament and had been sidelined since spring training due to a strained left hamstring. He's 4-1 with a 3.15 ERA in six career appearances against Texas.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (2-2, 2.11) is scheduled to start for the Rangers. He's 3-1 with a 5.03 ERA in 11 career games (10 starts) against Boston.

Eovaldi pitched against Boston on Opening Day, when the Red Sox earned a 5-2 victory. He allowed two runs on three hits and struck out nine in six innings, but didn't factor in the decision.

The Rangers defeated the Red Sox three times in a season-opening four-game series at Texas.

--Field Level Media