Red Sox strike early to complete sweep of Rangers
Drew Pomeranz tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts in six innings Thursday, and Xander Bogaerts connected for his first homer of the season as the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 6-2 to complete a three-game sweep.
The Rangers struck out 20 times to tie the major-league record for a nine-inning game.
Elvis Andrus homered for the Rangers, and Nomar Mazara had two hits and an RBI, but two-run innings in the first and third against Nick Martinez sent the Rangers to their four loss in the past five games.
The first pitch was delayed 28 minutes by rain as the grounds crew tended to wet conditions in the infield and on the warning track.
How Rangers hitters fared: They reverted back to their strikeout ways, fanning 19 times. Eleven of those were against Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz, who had seven strikeouts in the first three innings. ... Elvis Andrus got the Rangers going with a home run to start the fourth. He has six homers the season, the same at Rougned Odor. ... Delino DeShieldds walked to start the sixth, stole second despite being picked off, and scored two batters later a Nomar Mazara singled.
How Rangers pitchers fared: Nick Martinez struggled with two outs in the first inning and no outs in the second. As a result, he didn’t make it into the sixth. ... Martinez retired the first two Boston hitters before allowing a single to Xander Bogaerts, who stole second and scored on Andrew Benintendi’s single. After a walk to Hanley Ramirez, Mitch Moreland singled in Benintendi. ... Martinez started the third by Dustin Pedroia before Bogaerts hit his first homer of the season. ... Tony Barnette showed well in the seventh, getting a double play and strikeout after inheriting two Dario Alvarez base runners. ... Keone Kela worked a scoreless seventh inning, but Alex Claudio allowed two two-out runs on a Deven Marrero home run in the eighth.
Jeff Wilson: 817-390-7760, @JeffWilson_FWST
Texas | 000 | 101 | 000 | — | 2 | 4 | 0 |
Boston | 202 | 000 | 02x | — | 6 | 10 | 0 |
Texas AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. | |
DeShields cf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .287 |
Andrus ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .270 |
Mazara rf | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .276 |
Lucroy c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .260 |
Odor dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .207 |
Napoli 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .193 |
Rua lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .224 |
Gallo 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .191 |
Kozma 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .174 |
Totals 31 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 19 | ||
Boston AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. | |
Betts rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .286 |
Pedroia 2b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .288 |
Rutledge 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .286 |
Bogaerts ss | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .335 |
Benintendi lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .288 |
Ramirez dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .255 |
Moreland 1b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .273 |
Bradley Jr. cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .204 |
Vazquez c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .338 |
Marrero 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | .178 |
Totals 32 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 7 | ||
LOB—Texas 4, Boston 8. 2B—Vazquez (7). HR—Andrus (6), off Pomeranz; Bogaerts (1), off Martinez; Marrero (1), off Claudio. RBIs—Andrus (22), Mazara (32), Bogaerts 2 (17), Benintendi (26), Moreland (25), Marrero 2 (6). SB—DeShields (8), Betts (7), Bogaerts (8), Benintendi (7). DP—Texas 2 (Kozma, Napoli), (Andrus, Kozma, Napoli).
Texas | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Martinez, L 1-3 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 95 | 4.69 |
Alvarez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 3.48 |
Barnette | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5.30 |
Kela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 3.71 |
Claudio | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 2.86 |
Boston | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Pomeranz, W 4-3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 96 | 4.70 |
Hembree, H, 10 | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 4.09 |
Scott, H, 7 | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1.54 |
Barnes, H, 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 3.48 |
Kimbrel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 0.87 |
Alvarez pitched to 2 batters in the 6th. Inherited runners-scored—Barnette 2-0. HBP—Alvarez (Moreland), Kimbrel (Mazara). T—3:23. A—33,484 (37,499).
This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Red Sox strike early to complete sweep of Rangers."