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