Nick Pivetta finally found his stride, allowing one run in seven innings, and the Boston Red Sox made the most of their station-to-station attack to roll to a 7-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday in the opener of a three-game series in Arlington, Texas.
Xander Bogaerts had two hits and two RBIs while J.D. Martinez also had two hits to lead the Red Sox’s 10-hit attack.
Pivetta (1-4) gave up just three hits and walked one in earning his first victory of the season. He had four strikeouts, working the top of the zone with his curveball, as 61 of his 85 pitches were strikes.
Kutter Crawford pitched the final two innings to finish the win for the Red Sox, allowing one walk and one hit in the ninth. Boston has won two of its past three games after losing five in a row.
Dane Dunning (1-2) took the loss for the Rangers, surrendering five runs on six hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. Dunning struck out six.
Texas had just four hits, three by Kole Calhoun, and has dropped two of its past three contests.
The Red Sox opened the scoring on Rafael Devers’ RBI single in the third inning that plated Hernandez.
Boston broke open the game in the sixth. Alex Verdugo ripped a double into the right field corner to drive home Martinez. Trevor Story followed with a sacrifice fly that allowed Bogaerts to score from third base, and Franchy Cordero doubled in Verdugo. Christian Vazquez then made it 5-0 on a single to bring in Cordero.
Bogaerts expanded the Red Sox’s lead to 7-0 in the seventh with a single off Garrett Richards, the third Texas pitcher, to score Devers and Martinez.
The Rangers finally produced a run in the bottom of the seventh as Calhoun tripled and scored on a wild pitch by Pivetta.
–Field Level Media
