Down to his last strike with 2 outs in the 9th inning and two runners in scoring position, Victor Martinez came up big with a 2-run double to give the Boston Red Sox the lead at 5-4. They would add three more runs on their way to an 8-4 come-from-behind win over the Texas Rangers in front of 40,311 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX.
The win for the Red Sox (66-49) increases their lead over the Rangers (64-45) to 1½ games in the wild card standings.
Frank Francisco came out for the top of the 9th trying to notch his 17th save of the season with a 4-2 lead but had command issues.
David Ortiz led off the inning with a double and then went to third as Jason Varitek legged out an infield single. Jacoby Ellsbury cut the lead to one at 4-3 as his single brought in Big Papi with Tek stopping at second. Chris Woodward failed to get the bunt down and struck out forthe first out.
Terry Francona then brought in Clay Buchholz to pinch-run for Tek at second base. Dustin Pedroia came up with a big double but Buchholz was gunned down at the plate. With runners now on second and third and two strikes on him, Martinez delivered a double to right field to put the Sox out front 5-4.
Jason Bay followed that with a single to score V-Mart and make it 6-4. Bay would go to second on defensive indifference but it wouldn’t matter as J.D. Drew brought him in with a 2-run homer to make it 8-4.
Jonathan Papelbon came on for the 9th and worked around an one-out double by Omar Vizquel by striking out the final two batters he faced to preserve the win for the Red Sox.
Jon Lester started this one for the Red Sox and he fell behind right away in the first on a two-run homer by Michael Young. He settled in after that although the Rangers did make him work. Lester ended up going 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks but had 11 strikeouts.
Daniel Bard allowed a run on a hit and two walks in an inning and Takashi Saito gave up a hit and had a strikeout in his inning of work.
Once again, the Red Sox had trouble with Kevin Millwood. They did get him out of the game after 5 2/3 innings and 110 pitches. Millwood allowed 1 run on 3 hits and 5 walks while striking out 4.
Eddie Guardado allowed a run in 1/3 of an inning while Darren O’Day and C.J. Wilson shut the Red Sox down before Francisco’s implosion.
Big Papi finished the night with 2 hits, one of which was a 2-run homer. Drew also finished the night with 2 hits, including his 2-run homer. Dustin Pedroia added two hits to the cause as well.
After the game, Francona announced that Woodward had been designated for assignment to make room on the roster for newly acquired Alex Gonzalez.
Tremendous win by the Red Sox on Friday night. The win shows you just what this team is made of.
It’s up to Brad Penny to ride the momentum from this win on Saturday night as he gets the ball for the Red Sox. He’ll be opposed by Derek Holland.
