In the top of the first, Jacoby Ellsbury led the game off with a walk but Dustin Pedroia banged into a double play. Carl Crawford then hit a meek ground ball to second to end the inning. History repeated itself from yesterday as Ian Kinsler led the game off with a blast to left center to put the Rangers up early. Elvis Anrus flied out to right but Josh Hamilton singled to left. Adrian Beltre popped up to JD Drew and Michael Young flied out to right end the inning but the Rangers were ahead 1-0.
In the top of the second, Adrian Gonzalez singled to right but Youkilis flied out to left center. Ortiz then launched a 2 run home run to right center to give the Sox the lead. JD Drew made his season debut by working a walk but Jared Saltalamacchia flied out to center. Marco Scutaro grounded into a force to end the inning with the Sox ahead 2-1.
Lackey cruised through the bottom of the second as Nelson Cruz struck out swinging to start. Mitch Moreland popped up to short and Yorvit Torrealba struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the third as Ellsbury watched strike three go by to start. Pedroia flied out to left and Crawford popped up to short to end the inning. The Rangers struck back in the bottom of the third although Julio Borbon struck out swinging to start. Kindler doubled to right and Andrus tripled him home to tie the game. Hamilton lined a base hit to center to score Andrus to give the Rangers the lead. Hamilton swiped second but Beltre popped up to right. Young flied out to center to end the inning but the Rangers led 3-2.
The Sox fought back in the top of the fourth inning as Gonzalez singled to left to start. Youkilis doubled Adrian to third and Gonzalez scored on the rbi ground out by Ortiz to tie the game. Youk moved to third on the play but was stranded when Drew grounded out to first. Saltalamacchia struck out looking to end the inning but the game was tied 3-3.
The Rangers blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth although Cruz lined out to first to start. Moreland flied out to center and the floodgates opened. Torrealba doubled to center and Borbon tripled him home to give Texas the lead back. Kinsler walked and Andrus doubled home Borbon. Hamilton was intentionally walked to load the bases and Beltre made the Sox pay with a grand slam to ice the game. Young singled to second and Sox manager Terry Francona had seen enough of Lackey. The grand slam was the icing on the cake as Lackey lasted just 3 2/3 innings while allowing 9 runs. Dan Wheeler came in and got Cruz to ground out to third to end the inning with the Rangers ahead 9-3.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the fifth as Scutaro flied out to right to start. Ellsbury grounded out to second but Pedroia singled in the hole at short. Crawford struck out swinging to end the inning. The Rangers struck again in the bottom of the fifth as Moreland singled to center to start. Torrealba then hit a home run all the way to Santo Domingo to increase the lead. Borbon singled to short but Kinsler went down swinging. Young beat out an infield single to second to chase Wheeler from the game. Tim Wakefield was brought in and Cruz grounded out to third to end the inning with the Rangers ahead 11-3.
Gonzalez led off with a double to start the top of the sixth and moved to third on the Youkilis fly out to right. Ortiz struck out looking and Drew flied out to center to end the inning. Jed Lowrie replaced Pedroia for the bottom of the sixth and the Rangers struck again. Young grounded out to second but then Cruz homered to dead center. That's 4 homers for the Rangers after the 3 they hit yesterday. Moreland popped up to third and Torrealba flied out to center to end the inning but it was 12-3 Texas.
Mason Tobin replaced Lewis for the top of the seventh and the Sox struck back. Saltalamacchia was hit to open the frame but Scutaro popped up to right in foul territory. Ellsbury then displayed some power by smashing one out to right field to cut the lead. If Wheeler and Wakefield didn't give up those home runs it would still be a game but its out of reach at this point. Lowrie and Crawford worked back to back walks but Gonzalez ended any hope of a comeback by banging into a double play to end the inning with the Sox down 12-5.
Ellsbury with his first home run
Darnell McDonald took over for Crawford in left as the portly Dennys Reyes came in the game for the bottom of the seventh. Borbon grounded out to second, Kinsler grounded out to short and Andrus flied out to right to end the inning.
Rangers win
Lackey the Jackass
Pedro Strop replaced Tobin for the top of the eighth and Youkilis worked a leadoff walk. An Ortiz grounder and a wild pitch moved Youk to third, but Drew and Saltalamacchia both struck out swinging to end the inning. Bobby Jenks came in for the bottom of the eighth and Hamilton flied out to right to start. Beltre flied out to left and Young grounded out to short to end the inning.
Darren O'Day came in to close out the top of the ninth and Scutaro led off by grounding out to third. Ellsbury flied out to left then Lowrie singled to right. Lowrie moved to second on defensive indifference then to third when McDonald reached on an error. McDonald took second on defensive indifference but Gonzalez grounded out to second to end the game. The Rangers had won it 12-5.
Jackass of the Night is John Lackey. He was hammered for 9 runs in just 3 2/3 innings to take the loss.
The Good:
Dustin Pedroia was 1 for 3.
Jed Lowrie was 1 for 1 at the plate.
Adrian Gonzalez was 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored.
Kevin Youkilis was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Dennys Reyes pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Bobby Jenks pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
The Bad:
Darnell McDonald was 0 for 1 at the plate.
Marco Scutaro was 0 for 4.
Dan Wheeler allowed 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning.
The Ugly:
Jacoby Ellsbury was just 1 for 4 with a walk but the one hit was a 2 run home run.
Carl Crawford was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked.
David Ortiz was just 1 for 4 but drove in 3 runs and hit a home run.
JD Drew was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts but was hit with a pitch and scored a run.
Tim Wakefield allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings.
Final Thoughts:
Not the way to start the season with back to back losses to the American League champion Texas Rangers. At least the Sox were competitive in the first game, they got hammered in this one. Lackey didn't have it and both Wheeler and Wakefield weren't much better. The offense is going to score runs but the Sox are supposed to pitch a lot better than they have shown. They couldn't stop the Rangers at all and if this is the best team in the AL, the Sox aren't showing they can hang with them at full strength. Granted its only 2 games into the season but this sucks so far. The Sox look to avoid a sweep tomorrow when they send Clay Buchholz out to make his season debut against Matt Harrison of the Rangers. The game begins at 2:05 PM Eastern time at Arlington Park.
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