Top Play (WPA): Josh Hamilton’s walk-off two-RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth off of Koji Uehara wins this distinction, oddly enough (.800 … seriously). I’m sure John Farrell will get heat for deciding to intentionally walk Prince Fielder, thereby putting the winning run on base, but I’m not sure we can say it was the wrong call, even though it clearly didn’t work out.

The next-best plays came courtesy of Xander Bogaerts singling home Hanley Ramirez in the top of the sixth (.157), followed by Hanser Alberto reaching base in the ninth thanks to a Pablo Sandoval error (.134) and Adrian Beltre singling home Shin-Soo Choo in the bottom of the third (.116).

Bottom Play (WPA): This goes to Choo grounding out in the bottom of the ninth inning (-.119), making the last out the Rangers would make on Sunday. Sigh. The next worst play comes courtesy of Leonys Martin grounding out to first with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third (-.088).

Tied for third place: Mike Napoli striking out in the third (-.064) and Rusney Castillo (-.064) flying out to short in the third.

Key Moment: Shut up about it already.

(Boston’s inability to get Betts home in the top of the ninth looms as a key moment as well, as does Sandoval’s error.)

Trend to Watch: With his starting spot in the rotation likely on the line, Kelly did just enough to survive. Was he much better than his abysmal outing against the Twins last week? Sure. That being said, it would’ve been nearly impossible for him to be any worse. Perhaps no one put it better than the inimitable Tim Britton, who in his game story from yesterday writes: “In Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Rangers, Kelly did not exactly seize the bull by the horns, but neither was he gored by it.”

Kelly ditched his slider and used his curveball and changeup more, and while he only made it through five innings, he also only allowed one earned run. Kelly struck out three and walked two and allowed six hits, which means there were plenty of Twins on base all game. Let’s not confuse this with a dominant start by any stretch, but at the same time, Kelly gave an effort that’s acceptable by No.5 starter standards.

Is Kelly one of the best five starting options in the organization? It’s still hard to feel that way after this game, even if he has among the most upside of any of the candidates. There’s something very tempting about putting him in the bullpen — a unit that clearly needs help as well — and giving his starts to Eduardo Rodriguez or even Brian Johnson. Kelly’s next three or four starts could, and quite frankly should, go a long way toward determining the ultimate role he’ll occupy in Boston. The soon-to-be 27-year-old has 51 professional starts at this point, so it’s not like he hasn’t been given a fair shot.

Another trend to watch is this pattern the Sox have fallen into where they keep scoring fewer runs than the opposition. It’s not going great.

Coming Next: The Red Sox play host to the Minnesota Twins, the team that just swept them in Minnesota last week. They have Clay Buchholz going up against Mike Pelfrey tomorrow — a matchup you’d think would favor Boston — but it’s really tough to count on the Sox offense to score against anyone right now. The Twins are pretty much the anti-Red Sox in that no one picked them to do anything before the season and you look at their roster and think, “wow, they’re overachieving.”

Somehow, despite all this, the Red Sox are still only four games back in the lowly AL East. They can only rely on the failings of their peers for so often, however. They’re getting close to digging themselves into a hole that it will be very, very difficult to climb out of.

Photo by Jim Cowsert/USA Today Sports Images

Top Play (WPA): In the 5th inning with the game knotted at zero, Blake Swihart lead off the inning with a single to right field. He then advanced to second on a Dustin Pedroia single. With one out, Mookie Betts ripped an 89 mph Nick Martinez fastball to left field that knocked Swihart in and advanced Pedroia to second (WPA: + .130).

A close second top play of the game was Hanley’s solo home run that lead off the bottom of the 6th inning (WPA: + .120):

Bottom Play (WPA): The bottom play of the game immediately followed the top play of the game. After Mookie singled to drive in Swihart, Pablo Sandoval came to the plate with a chance to add to the Red Sox lead. Unfortunately, he grounded into a double-play to end the inning (WPA: – .092). The Red Sox grounded into five double plays on the night, bringing their season total to 42, which puts them in the top five in the game. The second and third worst plays of the game were also Red Sox players grounding into double plays: Swihart in the second inning with one out and runners on first and second (WPA: – .091), and Brock Holt in the sixth inning with nobody out and a runner on first (WPA: – .055). The GIDP is not going to help this offense get on track.

Key Moment: It is hard to determine the extent to which this moment had a real effect on the outcome of the game, but striking out Prince Fielder, who has been hotter than the dickens of late, in the first inning of your major league debut has to do wonders to ease anxiety. Eduardo Rodriguez did just that with a gorgeous 87 mph slider in a full count that Fielder whiffed on miserably. Not bad for his first strikeout in the major leagues. He then proceeded to carve up the Rangers lineup over 6.2 more excellent innings for a final line of 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 2 BB, 7 SO. It will be interesting to see if the Red Sox continue with their stated plan of sending him back to Pawtucket after the one start.

Trend to Watch: How the Red Sox handle David Ortiz over the next few weeks will be very interesting. Similar to 2009 when he started the season very slowly, Ortiz’s ability to produce at a high level is being questioned. Entering last night’s game he held a .245 TAv, and 80 wRC+. In Minnesota he was dropped down to the fifth spot in the lineup for the second and third games of the series; he went 1/8 with a double and no walks. Ortiz tells Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe that his issues are not mechanical but rather an inability to identify pitches he can drive. Whatever it is, John Farrell is giving him a few days off during this trip to Arlington to work things out. While Ortiz told Cafardo his issues are not mechanical, the NESN telecast of last night’s game showed him pointing out aspects of his stance on printouts to Brian Butterfield, so who knows what is going on. Hopefully the few days off do him well and he gets back to knocking the ball all over the yard.

Continuing with another trend related to a middle of the order bat: The Red Sox and Ramirez have been adamant that his shoulder is not hampering his performance, but the numbers suggest otherwise. Prior to the injury he had a .326 isolated power (ISO) in his 103 plate appearance, since the injury (not including last night’s game) it is .044 in 75 PAs. Anything can happen in small numbers of plate appearances like these, so this change could just be random variation, but when there is a potential cause like his shoulder injury it needs to be considered as the issue. Either way, Ramirez had a double and a home run last night and looked more like he did in the early going of this season. If his shoulder is truly healthy he can get back to raking.

Coming next: The Sox continue their series with the Rangers, sending Steven Wright to the mound against Yovani Gallardo. Wright is making his fifth big league start, third this season. He has done a decent job filling in for the injured Justin Masterson. He will need to get his knuckler dancing in the humid Texas air, to keep their potent offense off balance. Gallardo, an offseason trade acquisition of the Rangers, has not pitched well. His 4.13 ERA and 4.16 FIP are both well above his career rates (3.71, 3.73, respectively). He has been allowing more contact than usual this season, ideally the Red Sox can make consistent, hard contact and get the offense rolling in a positive direction.

Photo by Tim Heltman/USA Today Sports Images

Top Play (WPA): It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the top play from last night’s game was Mike Napoli’s solo home run (.103) to lead off the 4th. The Red Sox had a 1-0 lead heading into the inning but were in need of an insurance run or six. Napoli had been struggling mightily and put together a hideous at bat in the first inning. Crushing a hanging breaking ball from Yovani Gallardo into the AAA sign above the Monster Seats was not only a huge play for the team, but also for a struggling player.

Bottom Play (WPA): Koji Uehara didn’t have the sharpest outing of his career, and both of the bottom plays for the Rangers came in what could’ve been a more painful ninth inning. After Leonys Martin started the frame off with a pinch hit home run to bring Texas within one, they needed just one or two big swings. They got a base runner after Brock Holt failed to make a tough bare-handed charging play at third base, but Elvis Andrus foiled any potential rally by flying out to right field. (-.077) Prior to that, Robinson Chirinos flew out to center (-.071) and Carlos Peguero struck out swinging. (-.051)

Key Moment: It’s tough to pick one key moment, but I’ll go with the first run of the game. The Red Sox made a point of being patient with Yovani Gallardo, and it paid off with a laborious inning. Although the inning could’ve and should’ve provided much more damage than it did, David Ortiz did score Dustin Pedroia on a single through the shift and gave Boston a much-needed early lead.

Trends to Watch: Don’t look now, but Wade Miley is piecing together a run of acceptable starts! Unlike last week’s luck-infused outing, he earned every bit of his win in this one. He struck out seven Rangers while walking just two, and looked fantastic throughout the game outside of a rough sixth inning. He’s now made four starts in May and has pitched to a 3.04 ERA with a 19/6 K/BB ratio. The Red Sox will need more of this if they’re going to climb up the AL East standings.

In less encouraging news, Pablo Sandoval was hit by a fastball square in the knee and went down quickly. He was clearly in a lot of pain, and was immediately removed from the game for testing. Luckily, the initial tests came back clean. The last thing this Boston offense needs right now is to play without Sandoval, who has had a very solid year despite his extreme struggles versus left-handed pitching.

Coming Next: The Red Sox continue their series with the Rangers tonight with Joe Kelly facing off against Phil Klein. Kelly had a much-needed good outing last time out, but he’ll need to string a few of those together before his rotation spot is truly safe. As for Klein, tonight will be his first career start, and he’s had a rough year out of the bullpen with a 7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings. The series will end Thursday night when Clay Buchholz takes on Wandy Rodriguez.

Photo by Kelley L. Cox/USA Today Sports Images