STRIKEOUTS GALORE
Darvish Fans 13 In Loss
ARLINGTON, Tex., May 9 (AP) - Yu Darvish fanned 13 Red Sox batters but still
drew the short straw as Boston defeated the Texas Rangers 3-2 at Globe Life
Park. The two teams combined to strike out 27 times, matching the major
league high for the season to date in a nine-inning game. Darvish and
reliever Shawn Tolleson combined to fan 16 Red Sox batters; a trio of Boston
hurlers totaled 11 punch outs of Rangers hitters. Darvish's 13 strikeouts
surpassed his previous high for the year by one, set on April 16 against
Seattle.
All of the strikeouts somewhat overshadowed what was a tight, generally
well-played ballgame. The Red Sox roared out in front in the top of the
first, and came close to knocking Darvish out of the contest. Dustin
Pedroia led off by reaching on an infield single and, after Shane Victorino
struck out, first baseman Prince Fielder booted David Ortiz's roller up the
first base line for an error, putting runners on first and third. Mike
Napoli followed with a double into the left field corner, scoring Pedroia and
sending Ortiz to third. Grady Sizemore walked to load the bases and Xander
Bogaerts then blooped a single just inside the left field foul line, scoring
Ortiz and Napoli with Sizemore moving to third. Darvish escaped further
damage by inducing A.J. Pierzynski to ground into an inning-ending double play,
but Boston led 3-0 after half an inning.
Darvish righted the ship more or less immediately after the rough first,
retiring 15 consecutive Red Sox batters beginning with the Pierzynski twin
killing, nine of them on strikes including five in a row at one point.
Texas slowly narrowed the three-run deficit. In the bottom of the third,
Leonys Martin led off with a triple to right-center field and scored on Rougned
Odor's ground out, cutting the Boston lead to 3-1.
In the fifth, Mitch Moreland hammered a ball off the right-center field wall in
almost exactly the same spot Martin's ball landed for another lead-off triple,
and Martin's subsequent ground out plated the Rangers' second run.
But Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz held steady. After walking Prince
Fielder to open the bottom of the seventh, he got Alex Rios to hit into a double
play and, after yielding a single to Moreland, fanned J.P. Arencibia to end the
thread.
The Boston bullpen slammed the door firmly shut. Andrew Miller and Koji
Uehara retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth innings respectively,
combining to strike out five of the six batters they faced to close out the
game.
The 27 combined strikeouts matches the major league season high set by the
Marlins and Phillies on April 11 at Citizens Bank Park.
5/9/2014, Bos14-Tex14, Globe Life Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2014 Red Sox 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 0 7 1 2014 Rangers 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 1 2 1 Red Sox AB R H BI AVG Rangers AB R H BI AVG Pedroia 2b 5 1 1 0 .287 Choo lf 4 0 0 0 .220 Victorino rf 4 0 1 0 .229 Andrus ss 4 0 1 0 .255 Ortiz dh 4 1 1 0 .188 Beltre 3b 4 0 0 0 .297 Napoli 1b 4 1 2 1 .283 Fielder 1b 2 0 0 0 .226 Sizemore,G lf 3 0 1 0 .156 Sardinas pr 0 0 0 0 .250 Bogaerts ss 4 0 2 2 .285 Chirinos c 1 0 0 0 .265 Pierzynski c 4 0 1 0 .360 Rios rf 3 0 0 0 .277 Middlebrooks 3b 3 0 0 0 .158 Moreland dh 3 1 3 0 .341 Herrera,J pr 0 0 0 0 .324 Arencibia c 3 0 0 0 .102 Bradley cf 4 0 0 0 .204 Martin,L cf 3 1 1 1 .240 35 3 9 3 Odor 2b 3 0 0 1 .000 30 2 5 2 Red Sox INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Buchholz W 3-2 7.0 5 2 2 1 6 96 63 3.30 Miller,A H 2 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 16 11 0.57 Uehara S 7 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 14 10 1.29 9.0 5 2 2 1 11 126 84 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Darvish L 2-2 7.0 7 3 2 1 13 110 70 3.71 Poreda 0.2 2 0 0 0 0 10 7 9.00 Tolleson,Sh 1.1 0 0 0 1 3 18 12 1.71 9.0 9 3 2 2 16 138 89 Bos: Herrera,J ran for Middlebrooks in the 9th Herrera,J moved to 3b in the 9th Tex: Sardinas ran for Fielder in the 7th Chirinos inserted at c in the 8th Arencibia moved to 1b in the 8th E-Fielder. 2B-Napoli 2(7), Moreland(8). 3B-Moreland(1), Martin,L(1). RBI-Napoli(20), Bogaerts 2(16), Martin,L(11), Odor(1). CS-Andrus. K-Pedroia, Victorino 3, Ortiz, Napoli, Sizemore,G 2, Bogaerts 2, Pierzynski, Middlebrooks 3, Bradley 2, Choo 3, Andrus 3, Beltre 2, Arencibia, Martin,L, Chirinos. BB-Sizemore,G, Middlebrooks, Fielder. WP-Darvish. GWRBI: Napoli Temperature: 80, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 2 MPH. Attendance: 35,815 Game Time: 2:52