Rangers Win Series Against Boston
Perhaps it was nerves. Maybe it was just an off night. In any event, Red Sox lefty Jon Lester gave up a few costly hits to the Rangers and lost only his second game at home this season, 4-2, on Sunday in front of 37,431.
"That was probably the best I have felt physically in a long time, and I didn't take advantage of it," Lester said.
"Whether that be because of a few days off, or just feeling too strong or overthrowing the ball, I made some adjustments, got the ball down in the zone and they just got hits with guys on base, and that is the name of the game.
"You can give up all the solo home runs you want, when you get those two- or three-run innings, that is what kills you."
In eight innings, Lester (11-4, 2.81 ERA) gave up nine hits on four runs while walking three and striking out six in the process.
The Rangers’ victory was sweet for the ball club, which came up short after their 11-inning loss the night before to Boston. The triumph also marked their first four-game series win at Fenway since 1995.
The Rangers got on the board in the fourth with a single by Josh Hamilton and a double by Nelson Cruz. With two outs, Cruz's prolonged the inning and came for the Rangers hitting a line-drive double to center which allowed Hamilton to score.
"We got two out and then the ball falls in front of left field and Lester throws a breaking ball to Cruz," manager Terry Francona said. "It was the right pitch, wrong location and it scored the one run and we don't convert the end of the play that is another run."
The Rangers continued to tack on runs against a struggling Lester who is usually reliable for the Red Sox.
In the eighth, Rangers’ Elvis Andrus got on base with a leadoff double. After a walk by Michael Young, teammate Ian Kinsler singled to left, scoring Andrus for a 4-1 lead.
Texas pitcher C.J. Wilson took care of business during his 6 2/3 innings and struck out a career-high 10 and gave up only one run on three hits. Simply put, he just outpitched his counterpart.
"He was getting ahead a lot," center fielder Mike Cameron said. "He was kind of tough. Strike one, strike two right away and a couple of times, I was 0-2 before I even got a chance to get in the box score. It was a constant battle and when he got a chance to get out of a couple of jams, he just pumped up a little bit and threw it by people and we popped it up or something. He was efficient. The guy was efficient."
The Sox got on the board when Kevin Youkilis led off the second with a single to left, followed by an RBI double to left-center field by Beltre. Youkilis has had seven hits in his last three games, but his efforts could not hold off the Rangers.
Boston managed just five hits against the American League West-leading Rangers.
"We're trying to win series," manager Ron Washington said. "It's hard to come up here and do what we did this weekend. I don't care how many guys they are missing, those guys know how to play baseball and still have some guys in the lineup that can do some damage. But we never backed down. We still played our game."
Now they open up a three-game series on Monday night at Comerica Park in Detroit, where they have lost their last 11.
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