Rangers Split Two With Red Sox - Win Series

C.J. Wilson (above) provided 7 1-3 strong innings of pitching, while Michael Young supplied the offensive punch with a three-run homer as Texas was able to take the final game of the series. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

In the last two games of the series between the Texas Rangers (67-49) and the Boston Red Sox (67-52), Rangers' starting pitchers pitched well enough to earn victories. Both Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson pitched masterfully the last two days but, unfortunately for Lewis, Rangers' hitting didn't keep up it's end of the bargain until Sunday afternoon.

Lewis (L, 9-9) gave the Rangers 6 2-3 innings pitched, allowing one run on six hits while striking out nine batters. It seems every time Lewis starts he is pitted against a pitcher that outperforms him, no matter how well he pitches himself. In fact, over his last four starts, Lewis has allowed a total of six runs and struck out a whopping 33 batters in 26 2-3 innings pitched, but has three losses to show for it.

"You've got to roll with the punches," Lewis said. "If I go out there and give a quality start and keep my team there, we're one swing away from getting a win."

Standing in the way of Lewis' first win in nearly a month was Red Sox starter Jon Lester (W, 13-7), who gave Boston eight innings of shutout baseball, allowing five hits and striking out five in the process. Texas scored only one run in the game, on a solo-homer from (who else) Josh Hamilton in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately for Lewis and the Rangers, the top of the inning saw the Texas bullpen screw the pooch again as Darren O'Day allowed two runs on three hits without retiring a single batter.

Wilson's line was very similar to Lewis' Sunday afternoon, although the one run charged to him was one that he didn't give up. Wilson (W, 11-5) produced an equally impressive strikeout total (8), pitched one more inning than Lewis (7 2-3), and should have gotten credit for the shutout. Unfortunately for Wilson, the bullpen woes continued as Pedro Strop came in and immediately allowed a double (scoring a runner from first ruining Wilson's shutout) then proceeded to allow a two-run homer, putting Boston within striking distance at 5-3.

Wilson lobbied to stay in the game after manager Ron Washington came to the mound to give him the hook, and rightfully so. After allowing a weakly hit grounder to Boston outfielder Eric Patterson, which bounced off the tip his glove into no-man's land in the infield, for the only runner of the inning, Boston shortstop Marco Scutaro was due up to the plate. Considering Scutaro hadn't hit a ball out of the infield all game on Wilson, I believe the right decision was to leave him in the game. Washington decided to pull him, however, and Strop cost Wilson the shutout, and could have cost the Rangers the game.

"I said I got this guy out a couple of times already, I get him out historically and I really need to work on my neck tan," Wilson said of his conversation on the mound with Washington. "I was like, 'Could you just leave me in?' And he was like, 'No, sorry, you did everything you've got to do today."

Wilson exited the game to a standing ovation from over 30,000 fans that braved the sweltering heat (it got up to 103 degrees during the game), and his performance was also lauded by teammates after the game.

"C.J. was the story of the game." Captain Michael Young said. "That was the story of the game."

Luckily for the Rangers, and speaking of Young, the offense showed plenty of versatility Sunday afternoon, scoring runs both playing small ball and with the long ball in racking up seven runs on 11 hits for the game. From Julio Borbon's excellent bunt-single with two-outs in the seventh that scored the second Rangers' run of the game, to Young's 423 foot, three-run blast two batters later that gave Texas a 5-0 cushion; Rangers' batters showed a myriad of ways to score runs.

The Rangers chased Boston starter Dice-K Matsuzaka (L, 8-4) in the aforementioned seventh inning after 6 2-3 innings of four run baseball. Matsuzaka pitched well, getting out of jams throughout the game, but, as hard as the Rangers were hitting him all-afternoon, the runs were bound to come - and they did.

Neftali Felix closed out the game, walking one and striking out another, although it was not a save situation. Feliz hasn't registered a save since July 31, and, at the age of 22, is only one away from becoming the youngest pitcher ever to accumulate 30 saves in a season.

While Saturday night's loss was certainly disappointing, and the Rangers' bullpen has been shaky at best over the last four games, a 2-1 series victory against a team like the Red Sox should not be overlooked. The win puts Texas 8.5 games ahead of the Angels in the American League West, extending it's MLB-high division-lead.

The schedule doesn't get any easier as Texas now goes on the road to the east coast for a three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays currently lead the wild-card race by five games over the Red Sox with a 71-46 record. It's the second-best in the American League behind only the Yankees, whom they trail by only one game in the A.L. East.

The pitching matchup for the first game of the series is certainly exciting, with Cliff Lee (10-5, 2.57 ERA) taking on David Price (15-5, 2.84) for Tampa Bay. These are two of the top pitchers in baseball with both in the top-10 in the A.L. in ERA. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

News and Notes:

• Rich Harden was placed on the disabled Friday, with outfielder Brandon Boggs being called up from the minors. This makes it highly unlikely Harden will join the club again this season, and Texas still hasn't decided who will fill his spot in the rotation.
  
• In other injury news, Christian Guzman was placed on the 15-day D.L. with reliever Pedro Strop coming up from Triple-A.. Andres Blanco took over at second on Sunday and responded by going 1 for 3 and knocking in two runs, including the first Rangers' run of the game.
  
• New Rangers' owner Chuck Greenberg was seen all over the ballpark on Sunday afternoon, ingratiating himself with fans from the lower luxury suites up to the bleachers. This guy is proving to be a like-able owner, especially after lowering concession-prices at the start of the series.
• Even after taking three of the past five games against the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, Texas is still a meager 12-18 this season against the A.L. East going into Monday's series against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
  

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)