four-hit ball into the seventh inning for his first career win as a
starter, helping the Texas Rangers snap a six-game losing streak
Thursday night with a 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Nelson Cruz had two hits and stole two
bases — the Rangers’ 13th and 14th in as many tries in the series — and
David Murphy also had a pair of hits.
Wilson (1-1) walked two and struck out
two before leaving with two on and two outs in the seventh. Darren
O’Day got out of the inning and Darren Oliver got five outs for his
second career save — his first since 1994.
Clay Buchholz (1-2) struck out a
career-high 10 batters, matching zeros with Wilson through six innings.
But the Rangers scored three times on three hits and two Boston errors
in the seventh to avoid a three-game sweep.
Buchholz allowed six hits and a walk
in 6 2/3 innings.
Wilson had been 0-6 with an 8.31 ERA
as a starter. He went 0-5 in 2005 and then went four years without
making a start before pitching seven shutout innings in a no-decision in
his first appearance this season. After a bout of food poisoning, he
gave up three earned runs to the New York Yankees in a 5-1 loss on
Friday.
The former closer had allowed just two
hits through six innings, but the Rangers had just three before Josh
Hamilton led off the seventh with a double and scored on Cruz’s single
up the middle. Cruz then stole second and scored on Murphy’s double into
the left-center gap to make it 2-0.
Buchholz got Chris Davis to ground out
to first and struck out Taylor Teagarden. He could have gotten out of
it on Andres Blanco‘s drag bunt up the first-base line, but Buchholz
made a wild throw to first to allow Blanco to get to second, and then
right fielder J.D. Drew made a bad throw to third to allow the runner to
take third.
The sold-out Fenway Park crowd turned
on its team, booing as Buchholz was taken out of the game. Ramon Ramirez
relieved him and got Julio Borbon on a liner to first to end the
inning.
Cruz, who entered the game tied for
the major league lead with seven homers, was intentionally walked in the
eighth and stole another base, his fifth of the season.
Recent Red Sox call-up Darnell
McDonald, who homered in each of the first two games of the series, came
up with two on and two outs in the seventh and grounded out to third
base.
Notes
The Rangers haven’t been
thrown out by a Red Sox catcher in 32 tries since the start of last
season. … The Red Sox said before the game that OF Jacoby Ellsbury,
who had been eligible to come off the disabled list on Tuesday, has
hairline fractures in four ribs from a collision with third baseman
Adrian Beltre on April 11. … O’Day was hit on the left forearm by Bill
Hall‘s liner in the eighth, but remained in the game.