Rangers Sweep Red Sox in Weekend Series

This was a big series for the Red Sox. Coming into Arlington they were the best team in baseball going up against the class of the American League. If they did well here it would be hard not to consider the Red Sox the best team in baseball. If they did poorly it would introduce some doubts about this team's ability to beat high caliber teams. The Red Sox didn't come through in this series and were on the wrong end of a series sweep. The Red Sox bats must have gotten lost by the airlines as they did not show up for this series scoring a combined four runs in 3 games. The one caveat to this series is that we saw their three best starters in terms of ERA this season (Darvish, Holland, Ogando) and they missed our two best ERA starters (Buchholz, Dempster). Regardless, it was a poor performance from the Red Sox and they will need to be better than they were here to get through Texas if they make the playoffs.

GAME 1: Red Sox 0, Rangers 7

Felix Doubront got roughed up for the first time this season and didn't make it out of the 4th inning. His stat line for this game isn't pretty going 3.2 innings, giving up 12 hits, a walk and 6 earned runs and picking up just 2 strikeouts on 97 pitches. It's worth noting that all 6 runs charged to Doubront came with two outs in the inning. It's a setback for Doubront who had looked very solid in his last two starts.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: F

Alex Wilson came in after Adrian Beltre hit a bases loaded double to score 3 runs to make it 5-0. Wilson didn't do Doubront any favors and gave up a single to the next batter to make it 6-0 and close the book on Felix Doubront. Wilson got the next batter out to end the inning, but the damage was done. Wilson ate a few more innings and gave up another run. Clayton Mortensen came into the 7th with one out and a man on first and got the next two outs. He hit a little trouble in the 8th, but didn't give up any more runs. Doubront left the bullpen in a tight spot and with plenty of work left to do and they mostly managed to stop the bleeding.
BULLPEN GRADE: B-

On the other side of this game Derek Holland pitched 8 shutout innings against the Red Sox. Salty, Middlebrooks, Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia all failed to reach base. Jacoby Ellsbury was the only player to have a respectable game going 2 for 4 with two singles. All 6 hits for the Red Sox were singles and Jonny Gomes worked their only walk of the game. The only time the Red Sox even threatened to score was in the 6th when they hit back to back singles with one out. As bad as Felix Doubront was, even one run would have been enough against the anemic offense in this game.
BATTING GRADE: F

GAME 2: Red Sox 1, Rangers 5

John Lackey made his 3rd start of the season in this game. He looked good in his last start against the Astros, but this start was not as encouraging. Still, 3 earned runs in 5 innings of work is hardly an implosion. If the Red Sox had been hitting better they might have been able to make a game out of this. Will Middlebrooks didn't do Lackey any favors with two throwing errors.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: C

Andrew Miller came in for the 6th and gave up a leadoff single, but got the next three batters. Tazawa came in for the 7th and gave up a leadoff single and then struck out the next 3 batters. Koji Uehara came on for the 8th and gave up a 2-run home run to make it 5-1. It was really disappointing to see Uehara giving up crucial insurance runs late in a tight game.
BULLPEN GRADE: C+

The lone Red Sox run in this game came off of a leadoff double from David Ortiz and a single to drive him in from Daniel Nava. The Red Sox had some opportunities this game but couldn't capitalize going 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base. Dustin Pedroia was the only Red Sox player to not reach base this game. Shane Victorino and Stephen Drew both went hitless in this game, but worked the only two walks given up by Rangers pitching. Jacoby Ellsbury was, again, the only player to have a multi-hit game going 2 for 5 with two singles and a stolen base.
BATTING GRADE: F

GAME 3: Red Sox 3, Rangers 4

It fell to Jon Lester to attempt to salvage a game from this series going up against Japanese sensation Yu Darvish. Darvish is what I think the Red Sox were hoping for when they signed Dice K, but Darvish seems to have come closer to meeting the high expectations. Lester got roughed up in his last start for the first time this season against Toronto. Lester had a better outing this time and got through 6 innings and limited the Rangers to just 3 earned runs. He left the Red Sox with a very winnable 3-3 game and ate a reasonable number of innings.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: B

Koji Uehara came in for the 7th after a bad outing the previous night where he gave up two runs in a tight game. Uehara gave up a leadoff single, but kept the run from scoring. A nice bounce back appearance for Uehara. Junichi Tazawa came in to start the 8th, got one batter to foul out on one pitch and was pulled for Andrew Miller.  Miller gave up a single, but got two strikeouts to end the inning. Clayton Mortensen came in for the bottom of the 9th and struck out the first two batters, but then gave up a single to Elvis Andrus. Andrus got to second on a wild pitch. They intentionally walked Lance Berkman and Adrian Beltre hit the walkoff single to score Andrus from second. Tough break for Mortensen and the Red Sox bullpen who had a tough task trying to hold onto that 3-3 lead for 3 innings.
BULLPEN GRADE: B+

David Ortiz ensured his hitting streak would continue early in this game when he hit a 2-run home run off of Darvish in the top of the 1st. David Ross would add the third Red Sox run on a solo home run in the second. After this Darvish settled down and struck out an impressive 14 batters in his 7 innings of work. The Sox managed to get baserunners and threatened more runs, but couldn't get anything done going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and 7 runners left on base. Jacoby Ellsbury, who had done well in the previous 2 games, went 0 for 5. Daniel Nava and Mike Carp also failed to get on base. David Ross and David Ortiz both had good nights; each had a home run and added walks.
BATTING GRADE: C-

This was a tough series for the Red Sox against a good baseball team on the road. Hopefully coming home to Fenway tonight with Clay Buchholz on the mound at home against the Twins and their 0-4, 7.22 ERA starter Vance Worley will help right the ship.