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Gonzalez, Scutaro lead Red Sox rout of Rangers

Aug 24, 2011 - 5:26 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Adrian Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI, powering the Red Sox past the Rangers, 11-5.

Marco Scutaro drove in three runs during the 14-hit attack and Dustin Pedroia added a two-run double for Boston, which moved into a tie with the Yankees atop the AL East standings with its fourth win in six games.

John Lackey (12-9) was the recipient of the run support, earning the win after giving up four runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Josh Hamilton homered and added a run-scoring sacrifice fly and Ian Kinsler tacked on a solo shot for AL West-leading Texas, which has dropped three of four overall.

Colby Lewis (11-9) was shelled for seven runs on nine hits in a six-inning start to take the loss.

The Red Sox were coming off a 4-0 setback in Monday's opener of this four-game series and were facing a streaking Lewis, who had gone 6-1 in his previous 12 starts and had thrown seven shutout innings against the Angels last Thursday.

But Gonzalez got Boston off to a good start, hammering a first-inning homer into the second deck in right field. Jacoby Ellsbury, who had missed the previous three games because of a back injury, singled ahead of the blast, Gonzalez's first since July 30.

"I was able to get some extension to hit those home runs," Gonzalez said. "It was a good game for us."

Boston padded the lead with a pair of runs in each of their next two trips to the plate. In the second frame, Jarrod Saltalamacchia had an RBI double and Scutaro plated Carl Crawford with a sac fly. An inning later, Crawford returned the favor by knocking in Josh Reddick with a sac fly, and Jed Lowrie scored from first on Ryan Lavarnway's double to the left-field gap.

"When [the Red Sox] had runners on I made some mistakes, and they took advantage," Lewis said.

The Rangers halved their deficit in their third at-bat, which was sparked by three straight singles. Elvis Andrus worked a walk to force in a run, and Hamilton and Michael Young each added sac flies to make it 6-3.

Gonzalez and Hamilton exchanged solo shots in the fourth and fifth inning, respectively, and Boston broke the game open with a four-spot in the eighth.

Darren Oliver was pulled with two on and two outs, and Scutaro greeted Mark Lowe with a two-run double off the top of the wall in left. Pedroia followed an intentional walk to Gonzalez with a double of his own to roughly the same spot, scoring both runners for an 11-4 cushion.

Kinsler's homer off Dan Wheeler made up the final margin.

Game Notes

Boston had scored 11 total runs in its four previous meetings with Texas this season, all Rangers victories...Gonzalez has 12 career multi-home run games...Lackey's earned run average (5.98) is below 6.00 for the first time since April..The Red Sox have 65 contests this year with double-digit hits, one more than the Rangers for the most in the majors...The two home runs by Hamilton and Kinsler were Texas' only extra-base hits.