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Gonzalez homers twice, Red Sox drop Rangers again

Aug 26, 2011 - 5:31 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - The Rangers have probably seen enough of Adrian Gonzalez and the Red Sox offense, at this point.

The first baseman hit two more home runs Wednesday to back a good start by Andrew Miller, and Boston claimed another lopsided victory, 6-0, in its series finale against Texas.

Gonzalez hit five home runs and drove in eight runs during the final three games of the series, all Red Sox wins. Moreover, they were blowouts. Boston outscored Texas 30-7 in the final three games of the set after being shut out in the opener.

"They whipped our butts for three days," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "We couldn't pitch to stop them, and we couldn't get anything going offensively."

Gonzalez's power surge made up for lost time -- prior to this series, he hadn't homered since July 30 -- and also kept Boston atop the AL East. The Red Sox maintained their one-game lead over the Yankees, who hit three grand slams in a 22-9 victory against Oakland on Thursday.

Miller (6-1) made Boston's offensive effort pay off by throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings, his longest outing of the season. He limited Texas to three hits and two walks, and struck out six.

Alfredo Aceves and Dan Wheeler finished the three-hitter to send the Red Sox back to Boston with a 6-2 mark on its road trip. The club is scheduled to have a three-game series against the A's this weekend, but Sunday's contest was moved to Saturday because of Hurricane Irene.

Texas wasn't able to force a split in the series despite having Alexi Ogando (12-6) on the mound. The right-hander allowed all six runs in four innings, and all on home runs.

Gonzalez's solo blast with two away in the first inning put Boston on the board. Ogando threw a first-pitch fastball down the center of the plate, and Gonzalez jumped on it, crushing it over the center field wall.

David Ortiz pulled a solo shot to right field to lead off the second, and Gonzalez struck again in the third.

With Jed Lowrie on base after a walk, Gonzalez got another first-pitch fastball and again homered. The pitch was a little more outside, but Gonzalez strong-armed it the opposite way and over the left-center field fence.

"You hit 'em in bunches," Gonzalez said. "Hopefully I can continue swinging like that tomorrow."

Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit Boston's final home run in the fourth. Carl Crawford had opened the inning with a base hit, and Saltalamacchia slugged a first-pitch fastball to left for his 13th homer.

Every pitch the Red Sox hit for a home run was left up in the zone by Ogando.

Game Notes

The four home runs allowed were a career high for Ogando...Gonzalez is hitting .444 over his last seven games...Texas had swept a three-game series against Boston in Arlington earlier this year (April 1-3).