UPDATE 11:24 p.m. ET. According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com, initial X-Rays on Contreras' hand were negative.  

The Boston Red Sox are looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers in Thursday's series finale. However, with Boston trailing in the eighth inning, things went from bad to worse as All-Star first baseman Willson Contreras departed the game after being hit by a pitch. 

Here's what you need to know: 

With the Red Sox trailing 3-1 in the top of the eighth inning, right fielder Wilyer Abreu drew a lead-off walk against Rangers reliever Jakob Junis, giving Contreras an immediate chance to tie the game with one swing. Contreras checked his swing on a first-pitch sinker in on the hands, which appeared to hit him on the knuckles of his right hand. The 34-year-old All-Star instantly dropped his bat and shook his hand in obvious pain. 

Interim manager Chad Tracy and the athletic trainer quickly poured out of the dugout to check on the slugger; however, he quickly headed back to the dugout, as infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa replaced him as the runner at first base. 

After hitting Contreras, Texas manager Skip Schumaker lifted Junis, turning to his closer, Jacob Latz, to try to preserve the Rangers' lead. Latz quickly got catcher Adley Rutschman to pop out to first base. However, with one out and men on first and second, shortstop Trevor Story provided the swing the Red Sox offense desperately needed, launching a go-ahead three-run home run to left field to put the Red Sox on top, 4-3. 

An injury to Contreras is the last thing the struggling Red Sox offense could afford as they had mustered just six runs on 13 hits in the first 23 innings of the series in Texas. It's been a rough month of September for the Boston bats as they entered play on Thursday ranking in the bottom 10 in the sport in runs scored (50, 28th), batting average (.222, T-26th), on-base percentage (.299, T-26th), slugging percentage (.376, 25th) and weighted runs created plus (88, 26th). As a result of their offensive woes, the team has gone just 7-7 in the month. 

The 34-year-old Contreras has been inarguably the Red Sox' best offensive player, leading the team in home runs (27), RBI (81), on-base percentage (.387), slugging percentage (.518) and OPS (.905), while his wRC+ of 152 is the third-best mark among all qualified hitters, trailing only a pair of likely MVPs in Chicago Cubs' center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Houston Astros' designated hitter Yordan Alvarez. 

We'll have more on Contreras' condition at the conclusion of Thursday's game.