Final, Red Sox 11-5: Ian Kinsler goes deep with two outs but the Rangers needed six more of those.
The Red Sox have snapped a five-game losing streak in Arlington. They are tied again atop the AL East. And wouldn’t you know it? John Lackey has 12 wins.
Josh Beckett, meanwhile, has just 10, but he can try to add to his total Wednesday night when he goes opposite Matt Harrison.
It is a 7:05 p.m. ET game, as opposed to 8:05 p.m. the last two nights. That should make it even hotter at the start of the game, but Beckett’s a Texas boy. He’ll handle it, and we will handle the live blog. See you then.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 11-4: Satisfying those of us with heavy eyelids, the Red Sox go quickly in the top of the ninth.
Dan Wheeler will pitch the ninth. He has a scoreless streak of 11 1/3 innings.
End 8th, Red Sox 11-4: A few beautiful breaking balls from Alfredo Aceves helps him pick up a pair of strikeouts to finish the eighth.
The Yankees and Rays have lost. Boston will be tied with New York (still one game back in the loss column) and 8 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 11-4: Josh Reddick, the eighth hitter of the inning, is retired to finally end it.
Alfredo Aceves will pitch the eighth and probably the ninth.
10:47 p.m.: Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon may not be needed anymore.
The Red Sox have broken out for four more in the eighth, two coming in on a double by Marco Scutaro and two more on a double by Dustin Pedroia.
Scutaro’s shot hit the top of the left-field wall and was reviewed after Terry Francona went out to ask about it. It was clearly a double.
Adrian Gonzalez was then intentionally walked before Pedroia hit one not far from where Scutaro’s went.
10:33 p.m.: Ryan Lavarnway continues to find his way on with a one-out single in the eighth and Jarrod Saltalamacchia follows with a double.
After an out by Jacoby Ellsbury, Ron Washington is going to the bullpen. A righty will be coming in to face Marco Scutaro.
This is Saltalamacchia’s first start in over two months as the No. 9 hitter, but overall he’s been pretty darn solid.
With that double, his second of the game, he is 22-for-75 (.293) with four homers, eight doubles and one triple in the nine hole. That’s good for an OPS over .900 in 20 games.
End 7th, Red Sox 7-4: Game over.
Franklin Morales gets Josh Hamilton on a liner to left (what was Carl Crawford doing playing so shallow? Maybe the Sox scouted it well.). That gives us a perfect Daniel Bard-Jonathan Papelbon situation.
What? I didn’t jinx anything. No, I’ve never been known to do that.
Final line for John Lackey: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. For that guy in this place that’s pretty darn good.
10:19 p.m.: We’re getting to a point where we pretty much know what we’re going to get from John Lackey every single time out. It isn’t the type of stuff that will get him into the Hall of Fame. It isn’t bad, either.
Lackey is done after striking out Elvis Andrus for the second out of the sixth. He remains responsible for a runner on second.
Franklin Morales is coming on to face Josh Hamilton.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 7-4: Here’s the big inning. John Lackey enters with his pitch count at 95 and he owns a 9.45 ERA in the seventh inning this year.
Just needs to bridge this thing to the tandem at the back end and the Sox will have a chance to put an end to this Arlington slide.
End 6th, Red Sox 7-4: And moments after practically predicting a full Rangers comeback they had the tying run at the plate with just one out.
Yorvit Torrealba then grounded one right back up the middle that John Lackey fielded and threw to second (from his knees) to begin an inning-ending double play.
Solid defensive play by Lackey. Actually, the Sox have played very good D all night. They were, however, fortunate that it was Torrealba running, otherwise it might be 7-5.
The 73-year-old Darren Oliver is in the game for the Rangers.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 7-4: Do you kind of get that feeling? I do.
It just seems as if the Rangers have the Red Sox right where they want them. Maybe this has been conditioned over so many Arlington affairs that have gone sour for Boston, but I can’t escape the feeling.
The Rangers have turned what was a six-run deficit into a three-run deficit and now have had consecutive scoreless innings from Colby Lewis. You just figure there will be some good hacks at John Lackey as he nears the end of his outing.
It could be the kind of game where you really, really value Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon.
End 5th, Red Sox 7-4: It’s not every single day you see John Lackey tip his cap to a defender.
He actually could’ve done it more than once in what was a great inning for the Red Sox defense, although Jacoby Ellsbury’s running grab for the first out was the real gem.
Ellsbury raced into the left-center gap to rob Ian Kinsler of a double, or even more. Marco Scutaro also made a nice play on an Elvis Andrus grounder up the middle.
Both plays loom incredibly large after Josh Hamilton unloads on a weak cutter for a solo shot to right. Because of the defense, that only shaves a little off the lead.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 7-3: Colby Lewis had put a zero on the board in 13 of his last 14 innings before the game.
It takes him five innings to finally get a zero up there in this one, although it did feature a walk to Carl Crawford, which just doesn’t happen too often.
Lewis is at 90 pitches. His line will be ugly no matter what happens going forward, but if he can get through six the Rangers will take it. Lewis looked like a pinata early on.
End 4th, Red Sox 7-3: After giving up a one-out single, John Lackey picks up his third and fourth strikeouts of the game.
He elevated a fastball to get Endy Chavez swinging to finish the frame.
The Yankees are losing at home to Oakland and Tampa Bay is losing at home to Detroit. Could be a rather fruitful night for the Sox.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 7-3: Looks like the neck strain really is a thing of the past.
Adrian Gonzalez has gone deep for the second time in the game, this time an opposite-field shot that gives him 20 for the year.
That’s six straight years Gonzalez has reached that mark. He’s had at least 30 in his last four seasons.
And you wonder why Colby Lewis would ever throw him anything around the plate. Gonzalez is now 5-for-6 with those two homers against Lewis.
Remember that if these two teams meet in October.
End 3rd, Red Sox 6-3: All things considered, the Red Sox have to feel OK having their lead cut in half. That could have been a lot worse.
Texas got a run on a bases-loaded walk before John Lackey even recorded an out and the next guy up was Josh Hamilton, who got ahead 3-0.
That next pitch was the key to the whole inning. Hamilton, who owns Lackey, was given the green light and boy did he take advantage of it. Hamilton took a mighty cut but was only able to get a fly to center.
That was enough to score a run, but Lackey could get some footing with the first out. The second out came on another sacrifice fly and then Nelson Cruz grounded to short to end it.
Had Hamilton done what he wanted to do on that pitch, this might be a very different ballgame.
9:11 p.m.: A 6-0 lead in a place like Texas with a guy like John Lackey on the mound can disappear in an instant.
Lackey’s doing his best here to make that happen. He has given up two runs, one on a bases-loaded walk, and Texas has two in scoring position with just one out.
Back soon with the final result.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 6-0: Remember what I said about that pattern?
We’re still pretty locked in after the Red Sox put up their third straight two-spot.
Colby Lewis got the leadoff man for the first time but the next two, Josh Reddick and Jed Lowrie, both singled to put runners on the corners.
Carl Crawford then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, the team’s sixth in its last five games (one of which was a shutout, of course). The next run came on an RBI double by Ryan Lavarnway, who continues to impress. He is 6-for-15 (.400) with four walks and three RBIs in his last five games.
End 2nd, Red Sox 4-0: One of the joys of watching this team every night (except those when I have taxidermy class) is the amazing play of the right side of the infield.
Dustin Pedroia and/or Adrian Gonzalez do something every night on the defensive end that makes you appreciate their completeness.
With one on and two outs in the second, Gonzalez had a ball go off his glove as he dove for it. It bounced to Pedroia, who reached back across his body to backhand it before firing to first. Gonzalez had to race back to the bag, find it with his feet and still track Pedroia’s throw all at once.
Well done by the Red Sox first baseman, who got a slap on the old behind from an appreciative John Lackey.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 4-0: Nice little pattern developing for the Red Sox.
Score two runs, put up a zero, score two runs….
The continuation of that is up to John Lackey, but he has some nice early support, and it all started with a cheapie.
Leading off the second, Jed Lowrie hit a dribbler up the first-base line that somehow stayed fair. Mitch Moreland fielded it but Lowrie was already past him. Infield hit.
Carl Crawford followed with a single to extend his very quiet hitting streak to six and Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled in Lowrie one batter later. Marco Scutaro added a sacrifice fly to score Crawford.
End 1st, Red Sox 2-0: That’s how you follow up a two-spot.
John Lackey looks nothing like the guy who gets torched almost every time he takes this mound, slicing through the top third of the Rangers lineup in the first.
Ian Kinsler had homered to lead things off for Texas the last time Lackey pitched here. An Elvis Andrus RBI triple and Josh Hamilton RBI single came in the third before everything fell apart in the fourth.
Those three guys went down with ease in the first. That’s just the second time in 22 starts that Lackey has had a 1-2-3 first.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 2-0: Two huge indications that this offense can get back to where it previously was: Jacoby Ellsbury’s return to the lineup and Adrian Gonzalez’s return to the home run column.
Ellsbury makes an immediate impact with a single and a stolen base to begin the game. After he was bunted to third by Marco Scutaro, Ellsbury could walk on home after Gonzalez crushed his 19th home run of the year.
It is the first home run of the month for Gonzalez and his 19th of the year. It was a slider that he just cleaned out of there, improving to 4-for-4 in his career against Colby Lewis.
8:07 p.m.: With the mercury at 104 degrees, Colby Lewis throws a strike to Jacoby Ellsbury. Let’s see if tonight’s the night for the Sox.
7:22 p.m.: Let us just rehash some of these numbers.
The Red Sox have been outscored 37-14 in their five straight losses to the Rangers, each of which has been played in Texas.
The last time Boston lost that many in a row to Texas, whether on the road or at home, was in a span that bridged the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
One more setback tonight and it will be the longest run since a six-gamer in 1991.
Interestingly enough, that slide against the Rangers was snapped when Joe Hesketh outdueled Oil Can Boyd, who was then finishing up his career as a member of Texas.
6:46 p.m.: It’s time for some nightly links, folks.
First, the latest edition of the Red Sox mailbag is out. We shed light on Theo Epstein’s future, Jose Reyes as a free agent, the team’s unsung hero and so much more.
There were a few Jacoby Ellsbury-related questions in there. Tonight seems like a good night for him to reinforce his value to the team.
If you are going to Sunday’s game at Fenway Park, beware of the storm.
Back in a bit with one more pregame thought.
6:22 p.m.: Reports out of Texas have David Ortiz running sprints in the triple-digit heat to test his right heel.
Ortiz told reporters he feels fine and now just needs to wait until the doctors give him the OK. It would be a surprise if Big Papi is not in the lineup tomorrow night, and can you rule him out for a dramatic pinch-hitting appearance tonight?
Well, that’s unlikely, but if the moment presents itself, maybe Terry Francona turns and points at Ortiz.
At the very least, it looks as if the days of these makeshift lineups are slowly coming to an end, with the exception of the void created by Kevin Youkilis. Another 10 days or so until he returns.
5:37 p.m.: There’s been so much “who is your Game 3 starter?” talk since the Red Sox lost Clay Buchholz. Well, first they have to get to the playoffs. After that it could be dependent upon which team you draw in the first round.
If John Lackey is Terry Francona’s choice to go after Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, would that still be the case if Texas is the opponent?
The numbers on Lackey against the Rangers are unreal. They just eat this guy alive. Here is the Texas lineup for tonight’s game, followed by some eye-popping stats:
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Elvis Andrus, SS
Josh Hamilton, LF
Michael Young, 3B
Nelson Cruz, RF
Mike Napoli, DH
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Yorvit Torrealba, C
Endy Chavez, CF
Kinsler, Hamilton and Young are a combined 55-for-137 (.401) with seven home runs, one triple, eight doubles and 13 walks against 15 strikeouts. Cruz is a respectable .286 (6-for-21), although he has whiffed nine times vs. Lackey. Chavez is 4-for-8.
As mentioned earlier, Lackey is 6-6 with a 6.78 ERA in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
4:06 p.m.: Jacoby is back! Jacoby is back!
OK, settle down people. It was just three days. However, his return has the potential to have an altering impact on this lineup.
At the very least, the batting order looks a whole lot better on paper, doesn’t it? Have a look:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Marco Scutaro, SS
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Josh Reddick, RF
Jed Lowrie, 3B
Carl Crawford, LF
Ryan Lavarnway, DH
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Gonzalez is 3-for-3 with a double against Rangers starter Colby Lewis. The rest of the lineup? Try 4-for-36 (.111) with nine strikeouts. Ellsbury is 0-for-3 against the right-hander.
9:15 a.m. ET: The Texas Rangers will try to keep alive their dominance of the Red Sox when the two teams tangle Tuesday night in Arlington.
With a combined four-hit shutout in the series opener Monday, the Rangers have won 11 of the last 13 meetings between the two teams in Texas, including all four in 2011.
One of the guys who has been on the wrong end of that one-sidedness is John Lackey, the starter for Boston. He is 6-6 with a 6.78 ERA in his career at Texas, including a disastrous start there on April 2 in which he gave up nine runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Lackey’s 6.07 ERA overall against the Rangers is his highest against any American League team by a rather significant margin.
On the mound for first-place Texas is right-hander Colby Lewis. He is coming off seven scoreless innings against the Angels and owns a solid 3.38 mark in nine career appearances against Boston.
Lewis is expected to throw his first pitch at around 8:05 p.m., and Jacoby Ellsbury is expected to be the man who sees it come in. Ellsbury has missed the last three games with a sore back after being hit by a pitch Friday in Kansas City.
