The Sports Xchange
Jul 5, 2017
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Boston Red Sox ran their winning streak to six games by pounding the Texas Rangers 11-4 on Tuesday behind the hitting of Andrew Benintendi and the pitching of David Price.
Benintendi went 5-for-5 with two homers and six RBIs, while Price (4-2) had his best outing of the season, throwing six scoreless innings.
Boston (49-35), which finished with 19 hits, has reached double figures in hits in each game of the streak.
The Rangers (40-44) have lost six of their past seven games and are four games under .500 for the first time since June 9.
Boston jumped on Texas starter Yu Darvish (6-7) for a pair of runs in the second to get things going. Benintendi got his big night going with an RBI single. Tzu-Wei Lin made it 2-0 with his first career RBI.
The Red Sox added two more runs in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles from Christian Vazquez and Lin.
Boston knocked out Darvish with three more runs in the fifth as Benintendi lined a three-run homer to right for his third hit, putting the Red Sox up 7-0.
Darvish had his shortest outing of the season, pitching 4 1/3 innings and allowing seven runs on 11 hits. The earned runs and hits allowed matched career highs for Darvish.
Price had no such problems. He allowed two hits in the first but got out of trouble by striking out Carlos Gomez with runners on second and third. He allowed just four singles over the next four innings. He finished with a season-high nine strikeouts and walked two.
Benintendi added an RBI single in the sixth inning and then led off the eighth with his second homer of the game. Jackie Bradley Jr. followed with a solo homer to make it 11-0.
Benintendi, who has two five-hit games this season, led the way for a Boston team that had six players with multiple hits. Vazquez, Bradley and Lin each had three hits while Mitch Moreland and Hanley Ramirez each had two. Benintendi scored four times while Moreland and Ramirez each scored twice.
Adrian Beltre went 3-for-5 for Texas. The Rangers avoided the shutout on Mike Napoli's three-run homer in the eighth inning. He has homered in each of the last four games. Delino DeShields also homered for Texas in the ninth.
NOTES: The Rangers activated RHP Jeremy Jeffress from the 10-day disabled list. Jeffress had been out with a lower back muscle strain. To make room for Jeffress, Texas designated RHP Ernesto Frieri for assignment. ... Boston LHP Eduardo Rodriguez allowed four runs in four innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday. He has been out due to a right knee subluxation. ... Texas 3B Adrian Beltre doubled in the first inning, the 600th two-base hit of his career.