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Wilson, Rangers shut out Red Sox

Aug 23, 2011 - 5:08 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - C.J. Wilson silenced the Red Sox and Mike Napoli belted a three-run homer off Erik Bedard to lift the Texas Rangers over Boston, 4-0, in the opener of a possible playoff preview.

The AL West-leading Rangers got 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball from Wilson (13-5), who yielded just four hits and two walks while fanning four. Koji Uehara stranded two in the seventh, Mike Adams hurled a 1-2-3 eighth, and Neftali Feliz preserved the shutout in the ninth.

Bedard (4-9) was charged with four runs on seven hits in six frames for the Red Sox, who had won three of four coming in and had a chance to tie the Yankees atop the AL East standings.

Texas was coming off Sunday's embarrassing 10-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox and had lost three of four before Wilson played stopper.

"[Wilson's] stuff is filthy," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He's got a lot of good pitches and he went right through us."

The Red Sox only had four at-bats with runners in scoring position and two came in the seventh. With runners on first and second, Wilson got Carl Crawford to ground back to the mound for an out.

Uehara entered from the bullpen and needed just two pitches to induce an inning-ending routing grounder to second off the bat of Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

The Rangers were up 4-0 at the time thanks to Napoli's homer off a 1-2 pitch in sixth. Josh Hamilton and Michael Young both singled ahead of the blast.

"I was just trying to get a single somewhere and drive in a run," Napoli said of his approach. "I just reacted to it and it just happened."

Texas' other run came in the third. With Craig Gentry on first via a walk, Ian Kinsler hit a short fly ball to right that momentarily fooled Josh Reddick, who appeared to adjust in time to make a sliding catch. Gentry was on second thinking the ball dropped and was proven correct when first base umpire Doug Eddings ruled Reddick trapped the ball. Replays, however, showed Reddick made the catch cleanly.

Elvis Andrus' base hit past a diving Marco Scutaro allowed Reddick to score the game's first run.

Game Notes

The Rangers have won all four meetings with the Red Sox this year...Bedard is 0-2 in four starts with Boston and has not won since June 15...Wilson is 17-4 in 32 home starts over the past two years...The second game of this four-game series will pit Boston's John Lackey against Colby Lewis.