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Red Sox pound Rangers

Aug 25, 2011 - 5:10 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Carl Crawford went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and tied a career high with five RBI as Boston clobbered Texas, 13-2, in the third installment of a four-game set.

Crawford's last five-RBI effort came on June 2, 2010 at Toronto while he was with Tampa Bay.

Jacoby Ellsbury finished 3-for-5 with a homer, two RBI and scored three times for the Red Sox, winners in five of their last seven.

Adrian Gonzalez added a two-run blast and Dustin Pedroia posted two hits and drove in two runs as Boston opened up a one-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East. New York lost at home, 6-4 in 10 innings, to Oakland earlier Wednesday.

"When guys are swinging the bats well, we're going to score runs," Ellsbury said. "We just kept putting pressure on them."

Josh Beckett (11-5) tossed six solid innings, scattering four hits and a run while fanning four.

Mike Napoli recorded two hits, including a solo shot, and knocked in both runs for the Rangers, losers in five of seven.

Matt Harrison (10-9) was torched in defeat for 11 hits and seven runs over five full frames.

Despite sweltering heat -- 104 degrees at first pitch -- Boston got to Harrison in the opening frame, tallying four times on RBI singles from Pedroia and David Ortiz plus a two-run double from Crawford.

It was 5-0 in the second when Pedroia singled in Ellsbury, and the Sox lead grew to six runs in the fourth as Marco Scutaro doubled in Darnell McDonald.

Napoli put the Rangers on the board in the home fourth with a long homer to left, but in the fifth Ortiz doubled and came home on a Crawford sacrifice fly.

"I put us in a hole and feel like I lost the game for us," Harrison said.

The Sox went up by a 9-1 count in the sixth when McDonald led off with a single and Ellsbury snuck a two-run shot inside the right-field foul pole.

Jed Lowrie singled with one out in the seventh and Crawford launched his blast to dead center for an 11-1 Boston advantage.

With one out in the eighth and Scutaro on first after a walk, Gonzalez narrowly missed launching a ball just inside the right-field pole, but several pitches later cleared the wall in left-center.

Napoli's single plated Elvis Andrus in the home eighth.

Game Notes

The Red Sox upped their MLB-best home-run total on the road this season to 89...Rangers designated hitter Ian Kinsler extended his hit streak against the BoSox to 14 games...Ortiz returned from a bout with bursitis for the first time since August 14, and went 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored...The loss matched Texas' largest margin of defeat this year, first set in a 15-4 loss to the Angels on April 19...Prior to the game, the Rangers recalled right-handed pitcher Darren O'Day from Triple-A Round Rock and optioned catcher Taylor Teagarden to Round Rock.