ARLINGTON, Texas — Rafael Devers is off to a brutal start.

Since shifting to full-time designated hitter duty Devers has looked completely lost at the plate. The slugger went hitless with three strikeouts on Opening Day, and in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Texas Rangers he turned in another goose egg, going 0 for 4 with four strikeouts.

Per Statcast, Friday marked just the third time in Devers’ career he’s struck out four times in a game. Both of the previous instances came all the way back in 2020.

Devers’ fourth strikeout was the most consequential, helping stymie what would have been Boston’s best chance to rally back from a three-run deficit. With the bases loaded and one out Devers could have tied the score or given his team the lead with one swing of the bat, but he whiffed on an 89 mph fastball from sidearm-throwing lefty Hoby Milner for strike three.

Alex Bregman went on to ground out to third to end the inning, and the Red Sox never seriously threatened again.

Much like Garrett Crochet in the season opener, Tanner Houck’s season debut was a mixed bag. The right-hander looked much better than at just about any point in the spring, but he was still ultimately charged with four runs over 5.2 innings, allowing three walks and seven hits, including two solo home runs to Rangers catcher Jonah Heim.

Houck only allowed 11 home runs in 30 starts all of last season, and for Heim it was just his second career multi-homer game.

One area where Houck clearly benefitted was the defense, which looks markedly better already than at any point in the last two years. The Red Sox turned two smooth double plays to help Houck out of some potentially problematic innings, and Bregman in particular made some difficult plays at third base look easy.

Ceddanne Rafaela also shined in center field throughout the game, particularly in the bottom of the sixth when he threw out Wyatt Langford at third base on a Joc Pederson single. That turned what would have been a men at the corners with no outs jam into a much more manageable man at first with one out situation, but while it eventually saved a run, the Red Sox couldn’t keep the dam from breaking.

With two outs in the inning Jake Burger hit an RBI double down the left field line, which caromed weirdly off the wall away from Jarren Duran and allowed Pederson to score from first. That prompted Alex Cora to pull Houck in favor of Greg Weissert, and the right-hander immediately gave up an RBI single to score Burger, putting the Rangers up 4-1.

Offensively Wilyer Abreu remained a notable bright spot for Boston. After going 3 for 3 with two home runs on Thursday, Abreu came up big again by going 3 for 4 with an RBI single in the fourth. He reached base in each of his first three times up, and according to the Red Sox Abreu is now tied for the most consecutive plate appearances reaching base via hit, walk or hit by pitch to start a season since 1961, matching Christian Vazquez in 2017 and Ted Cox in 1977.

Kristian Campbell also went 2 for 4 in his second big league game, Jarren Duran went 2 for 4 with a stolen base, and Bregman went 1 for 4, including a sixth-inning single for his first hit as a member of the Red Sox.