The Texas Rangers were able to take advantage of Tim Wakefield’s wildness as they went on to a 15-8 win over the Boston Red Sox in front of 38,208 at Rangers Ballpark In Arlington. The loss for the Red Sox ended a 4-game losing streak and was the Rangers first win over the Red Sox this season.

It was not a pretty night for Tim Wakefield and the Boston Red Sox.

With the Tampa Bay Rays losing, the Red Sox had a chance to gain ground in the AL East but were unable to do so when all of the sudden someone flipped a switch and Wakefield’s knuckleball stopped working. All told, Wake went 1 2/3 innings, allowing 7 runs on 4 hits and 4 hits. It was definitely not the result he was looking for in his 500th appearance in a Red Sox uniform. It was also the second shortest outing of his career.

It was just one of those nights for the bullpen as well.

Chris Smith worked 2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. Javier Lopez allowed a walk in 1/3 of an inning. Mike Timlin went 2 innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and David Pauley went the final 2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits. He did strikeout 4.

Mike Lowell, Jed Lowrie and Coco Crisp all had 2 hits for the Red Sox while Kevin Youkilis returned to the Red Sox lineup and went 1-for-3 with a 3-run homer. Mark Kotsay added 2 RBI to bring his total 9 in a Sox uniform. The only two starters without hits were Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Cash.

Believe it or not, the Red Sox got on the scoreboard first in the 2nd inning.

Rangers starter Matt Harrison, who was making his first appearance against the Red Sox, struck out Youk to start the inning. Jason Bay followed with a double to deep center and went to third on a Lowell single.  Lowrie’s single scored Bay to put the Red Sox up 1-0. Crisp then hit a single and a great throw nailed Lowell at the plate for the second out of the inning. Cash flew out to end the 2nd.

Things were seemingly going well for Wakefield early on. He got the first 5 Rangers hitters out on just 12 pitches. Yes just 12 pitches. 37 more pitches later and it was 7-1.

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Tim Wakefield looks to help the Red Sox cut the Rays lead to 1.5 games in the AL East.

The Boston Red Sox head into this game with the Texas Rangers having won 4 straight games and 8 straight over the Rangers this season. For the Red Sox it is also a chance to move to 1.5 games out of first place as the Tampa Bay Rays fell to the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon.

In order to get there, Terry Francona will rely on the knuckleball of Tim Wakefield. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington hasn’t been kind to Wake though as he owns a 5.60 ERA there to go along with a 5-11 record in 17 games (14 starts). He has faced the Rangers 32 times (27 starts) total in his career and is 10-14 with a 5.66 ERA. Wakefield will be making his 500th appearance in a Red Sox uniform which is second only to Bob Stanley’s 637.

Matt Harrison gets the ball for the Rangers and has not faced the Red Sox in his brief career. On the season, he is 6-3 with a 5.73 ERA in 11 starts.

Before the game, the Red Sox were rooting on the Blue Jays and were pretty happy when Gregg Zaun hit a grand slam to win it for the Jays over the Rays.

David Aardsma threw 25 pitches in a batting practice session and the plan now calls for him to pitch for Lowell on Monday or Tuesday in the NY-Penn League Playoffs.

Bartolo Colon had his start in Pawtucket rained out today and will start tomorrow for the PawSox. He’s still in line to start the doubleheader for the Red Sox on the 13th.

Lineups and batter/pitcher matchups after the jump.

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Whether or not the UConn Huskies actually deserved the win today, they persevered through Tropical Storm Hanna, 2 Tyler Lorenzen turnovers and 3 missed field goals by Tony Ciaravino to come back and beat the Temple Owls 12-9 in overtime in front of 17,194 rain soaked fans at Lincoln Financial Field.

If it wasn’t for the running of Donald Brown this afternoon, the Huskies probably wouldn’t have even had a chance to win the game as the Owls defense didn’t have an answer for Brown. Tyler Lorenzen had another horrible game as quarterback and you have to wonder whether or not the weather was a factor.

The rain started in the early in the first half and stopped at one point late in the game. Then as the game was winding down and heading to overtime, the heavens opened up again. The game wasn’t as exciting as most people probably would have liked especially when both teams spent a majority of the second half running the ball.

The only positive thing I can take from this game besides Brown’s running is the fact that no matter what happened, it’s still a W in the win column.

Scoring:

1st quarter

TEM – Jake Brownell 22-yard field goal – Temple 3 UConn 0

2nd quarter

TEM – Jake Brownell 41-yard field goal – Temple 6 UConn 0

3rd quarter

None

4th quarter

CON – Tony Ciaravino 36-yard field goal – Temple 6 UConn 3

CON – Tony Ciaravino 37-yard field goal – Temple 6 UConn 6

Overtime –

TEM – Jake Brownell 27-yard field goal – Temple 9 UConn 6

Donald Brown comes across the goal line with the winning touchdown for the Huskies in overtime.

CON – Donald Brown 7-yard run – UConn 12 Temple 9

Offensive Player of the Game:

Donald Brown had 36 carries for a career-high 214 yards and 1 touchdown. He was pretty much the only offense UConn had.

Defensive Player of the Game:

Scott Lutrus had 9 solo tackles and 3 assisted tackles for a game-high total of 12.

Turning Point(s) of the Game:

Temple head coach Al Golden decides to go for it on his own 35 late in the 4th qtr on 4th and 1. The UConn defense comes up with a big stop. The Huskies weren’t able to put any points up on the board though.

Temple wide receiver Dy’Onne Crudup called for a holding penalty when Travis Shelton had gotten the ball down to the UConn 9 yard line in overtime. UConn defense held strong after that to allow only a field goal

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Let’s start out this morning’s post with a musical montage from the fine musical montage makers at NESN.

Before the game yesterday, the Boston Red Sox activated 3 players from the disabled list in Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Sean Casey. Two of them, Beckett and Lowell, would end up being huge factors in the game against the Texas Rangers last night.

Lowell helped the Red Sox out with his bat last night as he would go deep in his first at-bat to get the ship going in the right direction. He would later add 2 more hits and 3 more RBI to help the Red Sox beat the Rangers for the 8th straight time this season.

For Beckett, it was a matter of getting it through his head that he was healthy. It sure didn’t look like he skipped a beat last night as he was totally dominating for 5 innings. He ended up scattering 4 hits and striking out 7 batters.

“The most important thing for me today was health, and the win was just the icing on the cake,” Beckett said. “I think there were some selfish things going on, some things I wanted to prove myself that I was healthy.

“I think I thought about it before the game more than anything. It’s one of those deals where you have to go out and push through it. I think after I got through the first four or five pitches in that first inning, I felt like it was good. I didn’t think about it much after that.”

Lowell didn’t want to rush back into things but was huge for the Red Sox last night.

Dustin Nippert will be part of the Rangers rotation for September.

Tim Wakefield will be in select company when he takes the bump tonight.

What should the Rangers offer Milton Bradley for next season?

Mark Kotsay is proving to be a perfect fit with the Red Sox.

Sean Casey had Kevin Cash stop by City Hall for a little talk about cars.

Amalie Benjamin has her second mailbag in the Boston Globe’s Ask Amalie.

For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.

And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out Dallas Morning News and Star-Telegram websites.

Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell both returned from the 15-day disabled list tonight for the Boston Red Sox as both of them played a huge role in their 8-1 win over the Texas Rangers in front 30,264 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The win for the Red Sox is their 4th straight and moves them to 2.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays who lost tonight.

Josh Beckett was sharp in his return from the disabled list to pick up his 12th win on the year.

Making his first start since August 17th, Beckett went 5 innings, throwing 80 pitches allowing 4 hits while fanning 7. Lowell went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBI to lead the way for the Red Sox.

Manny Delcarmen was again excellent out of the bullpen as he worked 2 perfect innings, striking out 3. Justin Masterson followed with innning of work where allowed 2 walks and Hideki Okajima gave up a run on 2 hits and a walk while striking out 2 in his inning of work.

Coco Crisp continues to swing a hot stick for the Red Sox as he was 3-for-5 with a triple and 3 RBI. Jason Varitek added 2 hits to winning cause as well. The only two starters without hits tonight were David Ortiz and Mark Kotsay.

The Red Sox got on the board first in the 2nd inning tonight off of Rangers starter Kevin Millwood. He had struck out Jason Bay to start the inning but then Lowell followed with a solo home run to put the Sox out front 1-0.

Big Papi started the 4th inning by flying out and then Kotsay reached on an error by Rangers second baseman Joaquin Arias.  Bay followed with a double to left as Kotsay would stop at third base. Both of them came home on a Lowell single to push the lead to 3-0 as Lowell would end up at second on the throw. Millwood walked Jed Lowrie and allowed a single to Varitek to load the bases. Coco hit a single into no man’s land in center field that bounced off the glove of Arias for single scoring Lowell and Lowrie to make it 5-0.

Meanwhile Beckett was just cruising along. He was perfect in the first 3 innings throwing just 40 pitches while picking up 4 of his 7 strikeouts on the night.

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Josh Baseball is back tonight for the Boston Red Sox.

Tonight the Boston Red Sox kick off a 3-game road trip against the Texas Rangers in the heart of Texas. So far this season the Red Sox are 7-0 against the Rangers with all of those games at the Fens.

The Red Sox will start their own Texan in Josh Beckett who was activated from the disabled list before the game. Beckett’s last start came back on August 17th when he was lit up like the Rockefeller Christmas tree by the Toronto Blue Jays. He has faced the Rangers 3 times in his career and is 1-1 with a 4.67 ERA. He has not faced them yet this season. He will be limited to about 70 pitches tonight.

Rangers skipper Ron Washington counters with Kevin Millwood on the bump. Millwood has faced the Red Sox 11 times in his career and is 4-3 with a 4.05 ERA. He has a no decision against the Red Sox this season when he gave up 2 runs in 6 innings back on April 20th.

In addition to Beckett, the Red Sox also activated Sean Casey and Mike Lowell from the disabled list. They also announced that Bartolo Colon will start Game 4 tomorrow night for the PawSox in their battle with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees in the International League playoffs.

Kevin Youkilis is not with the team tonight as he is attending to a personal matter back in Boston. He is expected to rejoin the team tomorrow night.

Steven Krasner has updates on the injury status of J.D. Drew and David Aardsma.

Newcomer on the beat Adam Kilgore tells us that the MVP field may have one less person now that Carlos Quentin of the White Sox could miss the rest of the season.

Rob Bradford says he’d take Dustin Pedroia over Alex Rodriguez any day of the week. I agree with him on that sentiment.

The Red Sox chances of the postseason right now stand at 98.5% according to Baseball Prospectus.

Lineups and batter/pitcher matchups after the jump.

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