Taylor Teagarden’s solo home run in the 6th inning off of Junichi Tazawa turned out to be the winning run as the Texas Rangers held on to beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in front of 27,155 at steamy Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Sunday afternoon.
The win for the Rangers (66-50) now puts them in front of the Red Sox (66-51) for the lead in the wild card standings by a ½ game. The Tampa Bay Rays are just three games behind the Red Sox as well in the wild card standings.
Tazawa was inconsistent on the mound on Sunday afternoon. He made the pitches when he needed to but didn’t look as good as he was in his last start. He went 5+ innings, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks. He didn’t record a strikeout.
Hideki Okajima allowed a walk and had a strikeout in 2 innings of work while Ramon Ramirez gave up a hit and walk with 2 strikeouts in his inning of work.
Dustin Nippert was solid for the Rangers on the bump. He went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Doug Mathis allowed a run on a hit and a walk in an inning while C.J. Wilson gave up a hit and a walk while striking out the side in the 8th. Frank Francisco put Friday night’s implosion behind him and set the Red Sox down in order in the 9th to pick up his 17th save of 2009.
Victor Martinez paced the Red Sox offense with 2 hits. Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz each hit solo home runs while Brian Anderson drove in the other run with a sacrifice fly.
This is now the first time since April 21st that the Red Sox haven’t been in playoff position.
They will get Kevin Youkilis back on Tuesday from his 5-game suspension when they are in Toronto. Josh Beckett will start for the Red Sox while Ricky Romero goes for the Blue Jays.
