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Ortiz, Schilling lead Red Sox over Rangers

Apr 9, 2007 - 4:54 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Curt Schilling started, David Ortiz bashed and Jonathan Papelbon closed. The Boston Red Sox needed all three to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers.

Schilling pitched seven strong innings and Ortiz hit two homers before Papelbon came on to save the Red Sox's 3-2 victory over the Rangers.

The 40-year-old Schilling (1-1) struck out six and surrendered just four hits and one run. The veteran righthander, who suffered through his shortest outing in a decade on Opening Day, allowed only three baserunners after the first inning.

"It certainly wasn't as smooth as perhaps it looked at times, I'm still trying to right the ship," Schilling said. "My strength has always been to stay focused and you can't allow things to snowball like it did the other day. After (Frank) Catalanotto homered and (Michael) Young got the single, my focus was on going after Mark (Teixeira) and getting out of the first inning."

Schilling retired 11 of the final 12 men he faced, limiting the Rangers to two singles after the first inning.

"Coming off the heels of Monday and an outing that wasn't very Schilling-esque and in a place that's got pretty good hitters, he gave us what we needed," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We're going home, we've got a day off tomorrow and we didn't get swept here. He gave us seven good innings and that's what we needed."

Ortiz seemed to be the only Boston player able to figure out Rangers starter Vicente Padilla, driving a solo blast into the right field seats in the first inning for his first homer of the season and adding a two-run shot in the third to provide all the offense.

"Every year you come in and fight until you get that one pitch we all like to get," Ortiz said. "I've been feeling better at the plate since we got to Texas and tonight I got a couple of good fastballs to hit."

After reliever Joel Pineiro loaded the bases to start the eighth inning, lefthander Javier Lopez came in to get the first out before yielding to Papelbon.

"It wasn't the way we drew it up," Francona said. "We had hoped to get a couple of outs whether it was with Pineiro or Lopez and get deep into the inning. It didn't work that way and it's hard to let a game get away without using Papelbon. I didn't want to lose a game without Pap having something to say about it."

The second-year righthander, who set a rookie record with 10 saves last April, struck out Young looking and induced a pop-up from Teixeira to escape the jam. Papelbon finished with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out two more, to earn his second save of the young season.

"I knew, coming in, that I needed a strikeout or a pop fly that would keep the ball in the infield," Papelbon said. "I knew I wanted to throw hard and not let them bloop something into the outfield. I kept moving the ball in and out on them and kept it hard on them."

Padilla (0-2) allowed just four hits and struck out four in seven solid innings.

"I got him out on the same kind of pitch (as he hit the two home runs)," Padilla said. "I tried to pitch inside but I missed the pitch."

"I thought Padilla was excellent," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "I just thought he wore his name on his chest messing with Ortiz. He tried to throw fastballs by him, got them up in the zone and the big boy didn't miss them. That's what beat us ... two swings of the bat."