Rangers' Late Rallies Propel Them Over Red Sox (4-8)

Josh Beckett pitched well

It's happened again-- the Red Sox bullpen has blown another game and I'm believing it's really time for the Sox to make a change of some sort. Much like last night, this game is really ironic because the Red Sox actually took a lead in it. In the second inning, David Ortiz led off with a double and Kevin Youkilis promptly drove him in with a two-run shot into the monster seats for Youk's first home run of the year-- this gave the Sox a 2-0 lead early. However, the Rangers just came creeping back in the third. Ian Kinsler walked with one out and then Elvis Andrus came up and strangeness ensued. Andrus doubled hard off the monster, but Darnell McDonald came up firing and nailed him at second base in a close play (he was actually safe), so a definite lucky break for Beckett. It appeared Beckett would have another lucky break with the next batter, as Josh Hamilton hit a grounder up the middle. But Dustin Pedroia sucked it up on a dive, but couldn't get Hamilton on the throw.

Kevin Youkilis had his first
home run last night

The Rangers were now on the board, but it was about to get worse for the Sox. David Murphy softly singled into right-center to lead off the fourth and then Beckett made one of his few mistakes of the day. He left a high fastball for Mike Napoli, who, in character, deposited it into the monster seats to make it 3-2 Rangers. Beckett stuck around for a while-- he was taken out after the seventh and he turned in a pretty good day-- 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K. Unfortunately, it was in the eighth when the Red Sox' bullpen struck again-- this time, the culprit was Franklin Morales. Morales allowed the Rangers to load the bases with one out in the eighth. He hit Craig Gentry on the foot to allow a run in and then he allowed Mike Napoli to do damage again-- this time it was a double into the gap to score two runs and make it 6-2. The Red Sox picked up another run in the ninth on an RBI single by Ryan Sweeney but it wasn't enough in a 6-3 loss.


Bright Spots:
Josh Beckett- 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K
Matt Albers- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
Mike Aviles- 1-2, 2 BB
Kevin Youkilis- 1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBIs
Kelly Shoppach- 1-2, 1 2B, 1 BB

Dull Spots:
Franklin Morales- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 BB
Dustin Pedroia- 0-4, 3 LOB
Adrian Gonzalez- 0-4, 2 K
Darnell McDonald- 0-3, 2 LOB
Jason Repko- 0-2, 1 LOB

Player of the Game:
Josh Beckett- This wasn't much of a game for the Red Sox' offense but Beckett held them in the game (and may have won it if not for the mistake to Napoli) in a solid outing.