Sox are messed with by Texas

Rangers 11, Red Sox 4

Rangers romp, take series win

September 05, 2011|By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff

With Michael Young on third base, a tough sixth inning (the Rangers scored… (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff )

So you want to avoid 21-game winner Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers in the American League divisional series and play the Texas Rangers, huh?

Hmm. Want to rethink that one?

The Red Sox finished the regular season 4-6 against the Rangers by virtue of an 11-4 loss yesterday, dropping to 1 ½ games behind the Yankees, the first time the Sox have been that far out since July 5.

The alarming aspect of this is the Red Sox, who begin a four-game series in Toronto this afternoon, have been outscored, 51-15, in those six losses. They outscored the Rangers, 42-14, in their four wins.

It seems to show that both teams are capable of offensive outbursts and pitching collapses. The Sox bowed, 21-4, in the two losses in this three-game series, but defeated the Rangers, 12-7, Saturday.

When the Sox beat the Rangers three out of four in Texas Aug. 22-25, they won 11-5, 13-2, and 6-0. The Rangers started Boston’s season with three straight losses.

Conclusion: A team had better be able to pitch.

Rangers lefties - CJ Wilson, Derek Holland (four shutouts overall), and Matt Harrison - have pitched excellent games against the Sox. Wilson has made two starts with a 1.46 ERA. Holland pitched seven scoreless, two-hit innings against them Friday, and Harrison pitched well yesterday, allowing two runs over seven innings.

Sox manager Terry Francona explained it as “when you get to the bullpen before you want to, that’s what happens. No team has been able to get to a [Daniel] Bard or [Jonathan] Papelbon. Both teams have been able to spread those games out.’’

In all 10 games with Texas there were no saves.

“Those guys swing the bats pretty good. When you play them they can hurt you in so many different ways,’’ said the Sox’ David Ortiz.

That’s our segue to John Lackey, who lasted five-plus innings (four batters in the sixth) and allowed six earned runs on eight hits and saw his ERA rise to 6.11.

Felix Doubront was also crushed when he relieved Lackey, allowing three of the runs charged to Lackey.

But before there’s any great sympathy for Lackey, who granted, had no run support, the Rangers had eight hits off him and probably hit a half-dozen outs pretty hard. One of them was a liner hit right at Lackey in the third inning by Elvis Andrus that Lackey converted into a big double play when Ian Kinsler, who hit one of three Rangers triples, strayed too far off the bag and was doubled up.

The Sox scored twice each in the seventh and eighth innings. With one out in the seventh, Carl Crawford singled and went to third on Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s ground-rule double to left. Both scored on Marco Scutaro’s hard single to right.