Leadoff walks always seem to come back to bite you.

Cruising with a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning, the Rangers looked to pick up their fifth straight win, which they needed to stay on pace with Houston, who beat Kansas City.

But Robby Ahlstrom committed the cardinal sin of walking the first Red Sox batter in the seventh, then followed that up by walking the second Red Sox batter. A flyout moved a runner to third. A ground out scored the runner to make it 3-1.

Then, to make matters worse, Jakob Junis, the guy who replaced Ahlstrom, walked the leadoff hitter in the eighth, and hit the second hitter, putting runners on first and second with no outs like in the seventh. 

Rangers manager Skip Shumaker decided to go to his superman ironman all-star closer Jacob Latz, like he has done on so many occasions. 

Latz got the first hitter he faced to pop up. Then gave up a gut wrenching, dagger in the heart home run to Trevor Story that turned a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 deficit. 

Double plays ended Texas’s comeback attempt in the bottom of the eighth and the bottom of the ninth. 

And once again, this team was unable to get over .500. Unable to keep pace with Houston. 

Now they have nine games left. Is it too much to ask to poke their heads above .500? It might be.

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