Rangers put squeeze on Red Sox to complete sweep

[July 23, 2009]  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Clay Buchholz pounced on the bunt near the first-base line, yet all the Boston starting pitcher could do was watch one Texas runner slide across home plate while another ran safely to first.

The flu-ridden Rangers used that squeeze bunt by rookie Elvis Andrus, a home run by Ian Kinsler and a solid spot start by Dustin Nippert to beat Boston 3-1 on Wednesday night and complete a three-game sweep of the slumping Red Sox.

"If that was directly to the pitcher, he might have had a shot," said David Murphy, who was running from third when Buchholz released the pitch. "It was just great placement by Elvis, and I scored easily."

Boston has lost a season-worst five in a row and dropped two games back in the AL East to the New York Yankees, who have won six straight. The Red Sox had led the division since June 9 until the losing streak in which they have scored only nine times.

"Unfortunately, from where we stand, it was the same story of the last few days," manager Terry Francona said. "We're just collectively not putting any runs on the board."

The Red Sox are hitting a majors-worst .192 in six games since the All-Star break.

Nick Green snapped a 1-for-17 slide with a solo homer in the third to put Boston up 1-0, but that's all they got.

"That's a hard way to win," Francona quipped.

Kinsler led off the bottom of the third with his 23rd homer. An inning later, Taylor Teagarden drove in the tiebreaking run with an infield chopper right before the squeeze play.

Nippert (2-0) threw 94 pitches over 5 2-3 innings in a spot start for flu-ridden Vicente Padilla with five strikeouts and two walks.

"Nippert gave us way more than we expected," manager Ron Washington said.

After Nippert struck out J.D. Drew for the second out of the sixth, Doug Mathis took over and went the rest of the way for his first career save.

Buchholz allowed three runs and six hits over four innings in place of All-Star knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who was put on the disabled list Tuesday with a lower back problem.

The Red Sox made two trades Wednesday, getting first baseman Adam LaRoche from Pittsburgh for two minor leaguers and outfielder Chris Duncan from St. Louis for shortstop Julio Lugo, who had been designated for assignment Friday.

LaRoche will join Boston at home Friday after the team's much-needed day off. Duncan went to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Yankees 6, Orioles 4

At New York, A.J. Burnett won his fourth straight decision and Nick Swisher had a two-run single and made three fine plays to lead the Yankees to their sixth consecutive victory.

Jorge Posada homered and drove in two runs, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single and Mariano Rivera earned his fifth save in six days. The AL East leaders scored four times in the first inning and sent rookie Jason Berken (1-8) to his eighth loss in a row.

Angels 9, Royals 6

At Kansas City, Mo., Maicer Izturis had four RBIs and Los Angeles scored five runs in the eighth inning to complete a three-game sweep.

The AL West-leading Angels (55-38) had 15 hits -- 40 in the three-game series -- to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

Brian Fuentes worked the ninth to join Randy Myers as the only left-handers to get 30 saves in both leagues.

White Sox 4, Rays 3

At Chicago, Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run triple, Jermaine Dye added a go-ahead RBI single and the White Sox pulled within one game of Detroit in the AL Central.

The Rays went through five pitchers in the seventh after Chad Bradford was injured warming up on the mound.

White Sox reliever D.J. Carrasco (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh and Matt Thornton pitched two scoreless innings for his first save of the season.

Athletics 16, Twins 1

At Oakland, Calif., Rajai Davis drove in four runs, Scott Hairston hit a three-run homer and the Athletics had their highest scoring game in nearly two years.

The outburst helped Trevor Cahill (6-8) win for the first time in exactly one month. He allowed a solo homer to Justin Morneau in the first inning and nothing else in the rest of his seven-inning outing.

Mariners 2, Tigers 1

At Detroit, Russell Branyan hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give Felix Hernandez a victory. Branyan drove a 1-0 pitch from Bobby Seay (1-2) for his 24th homer and the last of Seattle's two hits in the game.

Hernandez (11-3) struck out eight in seven innings, allowing one run and six hits. David Aardsma pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.

Blue Jays 10, Indians 6

At Toronto, Marco Scutaro hit two of the Blue Jays' season-best five home runs and matched his career-high with four RBIs.

Scutaro had a solo homer in the fifth and a three-run shot in the sixth, the first multihomer game of his career.

Carl Pavano (8-8), who had won consecutive starts coming in, allowed seven runs as the Indians lost for the ninth time in 13 games.

[Associated Press; By STEPHEN HAWKINS]

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