Red Sox Magic Number Drops to Six Courtesy of Texas Bowing to Oakland

The Boston Red Sox got lucky last night.

Not in the win column, but in terms of the magic number, as the Oakland Athletics beat up on the Texas Rangers Tuesday night, 9-1. So with that, the number drops to six with 12 games remaining. 

In the American League East standings, Boston lost a game to the New York Yankees who were 6-5 winners over the Los Angeles Angels. The Yankees are back to a six game lead just like that.

It was no surprise that Zack Greinke would dominate. Paul Byrd gave up all five runs in the first inning and pitched flawlessly afterward. If that wasn't the case, it could have been a scoreless ball game until the top half of the eighth when the Red Sox finally got on the board. 

Kansas City may be second to last in the AL Central, but they've had a decent month with a current 13-7 record. They swept the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox. Probably should have mentioned this before the series started.

However, the Angels took three-out-of-four earlier in the month. 

How important are these next two games? Pretty vital. With a New York series lurking at the end of the week, Boston has to come in not being swept by the Royals. 

Let's see what Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz can do on the mound these next two nights.

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