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Eighth-inning rally lifts Red Sox over Rangers

May 27, 2007 - 11:40 PM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Boston Red Sox have been waiting a month for J.D. Drew to break out of a prolonged slump. It may have happened on Sunday.

Drew drove in the tying run as the Red Sox used an eighth-inning rally to earn a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Joel Pineiro (1-0) worked out of a jam in the seventh, helped by a diving catch to end the inning by center fielder Coco Crisp, and pitched a scoreless eighth to earn his first win in a Boston uniform.

"When I came in, in the seventh, I was thinking about trying to get a double play or at least a ground ball," Pineiro said. "But I was able to get Sosa and Coco's catch picked everyone up and really gave us the momentum."

Kevin Youkilis began the decisive rally by singling to lead off the eighth against Texas reliever Akinori Otsuka. It was Youkilis' second hit of the day, giving him seven straight multi-hit games and extending his hitting streak to 19 games.

Youkilis stole second and one out later, Drew followed with an RBI single to tie the score at 4-4. Drew, who advanced to second on the throw home, came around to score the go-ahead run on Mike Lowell's RBI single.

Drew came into Sunday's contest mired in a 14-for-93 slump - including no hits in his last four games - which dropped his average from a high of .375 on April 20 to .227.

"It's just one of those situations that you don't know why you go through," Drew said. "I felt really comfortable today and hit a couple of balls hard. I had four good swings and could just as easily have been 4-4 as 2-4."

Boston's No. 9 hitter Dustin Pedroia added an insurance run in the ninth with a solo blast off Texas' closer Eric Gagne.

Pedroia worked Gagne on eleven pitches before taking the 12th pitch of his at-bat to left field.

"Pedroia's drawing out his at-bat and taking the ball deep was as big as anything that happened in the game," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We got the lead in the eighth but we needed Dustin's shot as that lead almost wasn't enough."

With Jonathan Papelbon taking the day off to rest, Hideki Okajima picked up his third save after yielding a run in the ninth.

The Red Sox jumped on top early, when Jason Varitek clubbed a three-run homer in the fourth off Rangers starter Kameron Loe.

Varitek's blast proved to be the lone blemish on Loe's line. The 25-year-old righthander left in position for his first win since April 23 after yielding three runs and seven hits in six innings.

"I thought I pitched pretty well other than the walk (in the first inning) and the home run to Varitek," Loe said. "I gave it up and then went right back to work. I tried to stay pretty even keel."

Loe came into Sunday's contest having allowed 26 runs - 23 earned - over his last five starts.

Texas tied the score in the bottom of the sixth, finally getting to Boston starter Julian Tavarez to tie the score. Tavarez walked leadoff man Kenny Lofton and surrendered a single to Michael Young before slugger Mark Teixeira tied the game with a three-run blast.

"One pitch almost changed the whole game when I left that slider over the plate to Teixeira," Tavarez said. "One pitch really can change the complexion of an entire game but the bullpen combination we used really came through for us."

The Rangers added another run when Ian Kinsler singled home Frank Catalanotto to go ahead 4-3. Tavarez was replaced one batter later after surrendering four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, while striking out six.