Lackey Lacking As Sox Are Pounded By Rangers (0-2)

Last night, the Red Sox lost their second game of the season in a 12-5 loss to the Texas Rangers. It was a painful game, topped by a 6-run 4th inning and an Adrian Beltre grand slam, as John lackey (right) was not sharp. It all started when Ian Kinsler had his second straight homer to lead off the game, making it 1-0 Rangers. That quickly changed when David Ortiz lifted another homer just over the wall to make it 2-1 Red Sox. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, an RBI triple by Elvis Andrus and an RBI single by Josh Hamilton put the Rangers back on top at 3-2. After Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis reached base to start the 4th inning, David Ortiz had his third RBI of the game with a groundout to first, tying the game once again at 3-3. Then in the 4th, all hell broke loose after Lackey recorded two outs, as an RBI triple by Julio Borbon and an RBI double by Elvis Andrus put it at 5-3 Rangers. But that just set it up for a grand slam by Adrian Beltre over the left-center wall, to put the game officially out of reach of the Red Sox at 9-3. That's about the time that John Lackey was taken out of the game after allowing 9 runs in 3 2/3 innings, he was replaced by Dan Wheeler. The Rangers were not done, however, as in the bottom of the 5th, Yorvit Torrealba smacked a two-run homer to left, to make it 11-3 Rangers. In the 6th inning, Nelson Cruz hit a solo homer to make it 12-3 Rangers, and that's about when they finished. In the top of the 7th, Jacoby Ellsbury crushed a 2-run homer to right field, making it 12-5 Rangers, and nobody scored after that.

All in all, this was a depressing game, after an awful outing by John Lackey. He allowed 9 runs in 3 2/3 inning, earning the loss and setting his ERA at 22.09, although he did strike out 3, his only plus in the night. On the offensive standpoint, the Red Sox weren't too bad, with two two-run homers on the night. David Ortiz went 1-4 for the second day in a row, but today he had 3 RBIs to go along with it. Jacoby Ellsbury showed some pop in a 1-4 day where he crushed a two-run homer. Today at 2:05, Clay Buchholz will come up to face Matt Harrison for the Rangers as the Sox will look to go in the win column. This game was more depressing than Opening Day, but hopefully we can reverse that today... to Bright and Dull Spots!

Bright Spots:

David Ortiz- 3 RBIs count for something, right?

Jacoby Ellsbury- Can't not honor someone with a 2-run homer

Adrian Gonzalez- 3-5 with 2 runs scored

Dennys Reyes- One of two Red Sox pitchers not to allow a run

Bobby Jenks- The other one not to allow a run

Dull Spots:

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- despite scoring a run, going 0-3 with 2 strikeouts and 3 runners left on base levels it out

Marco Scutaro- went 0-4 for the second straight day

Carl Crawford- Despite a walk, he went hitless again and this is not what we were expecting of him

John Lackey- He can do better than 9 runs in 3 2/3 innings

Dan Wheeler- We aren't paying him to allow 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning

Well, there's always tomorrow (in this case, today), because I do not want an Opening Series sweep.