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Buchholz helps Red Sox sweep Rangers

Apr 21, 2008 - 8:34 PM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Clay Buchholz bounced back from a tough outing and made sure the Boston Red Sox didn't need another comeback to sweep the Texas Rangers.

Buchholz pitched six scoreless inning Monday, leading the Boston Red Sox to an 8-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Patriot's Day.

Buchholz (1-1) allowed five hits and two walks while striking out six. In his previous outing, the rookie righthander lasted just 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven runs and eight hits in a 15-9 loss to the New York Yankees.

"I've felt like I've had good stuff just about every time I've gone out there," Buchholz said. "But there's a difference between having good stuff and just going out and pitching.

"It's a whole world of difference, and I felt like I actually pitched today instead of just going out there and throwing curveballs and changeups and hoping something good would come out of it."

Buchholz's strong start helped Boston complete a four-game series sweep of Texas - the first time that the Rangers were swept in a four-game series since August 4-6, 2001. Boston had posted come-from-behind victories in the previous two games in the series.

"Yeah, I'm glad (the series is) over with," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I certainly thought we'd fare better than we did, but that's the way the baseball goes."

The Red Sox played without slugger Manny Ramirez, who got the day off to rest, and injured regulars Jason Varitek, Coco Crisp and Mike Lowell.

But the offense did not skip a beat, as the Red Sox scored at least five runs for the ninth straight game and finished with 12 hits.

Julio Lugo went 4-for-4 to pace the Red Sox while Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz each added a pair of hits. Ortiz also drove in three runs.

"We are pretty tough one-through-25, so I don't think anybody wants to go out there and lose if one of our big guys are not in the lineup," Pedroia said. "So we are going to play as hard as we can - it doesn't matter who is in the lineup."

The Rangers were forced to go to their bullpen early when starter Kason Gabbard left before the bottom of the third inning due to back stiffness.

Gabbard was lifted after throwing a few warmup tosses prior to the bottom of the third. In the second inning, he slipped during his delivery to Kevin Youkilis and fell to the ground.

"The time he slipped there, he strained a little muscle in his back," Washington said. "He went back out there and tried and couldn't get through. We didn't want to take any chances so we pulled him out of there."

The Red Sox responded with Gabbard, a former teammate out of the game, by scoring five times in the fourth and added three more runs in the fifth, all against Dustin Nippert (1-2).

Lugo singled home the first run before rookie Jed Lowrie scored on a lineout to second baseman Ian Kinsler, who threw the ball away trying to double Lugo off first.

Pedroia followed with a two-run double to center and scored when Ortiz doubled to left-center field.

One inning later, Ellsbury singled home Lugo, and Ortiz added a two-run double a batter later.

In the four-game series, the Rangers' bullpen surrendered 18 runs over 15 innings for an ERA of 10.80. Texas pitchers issued 11 walks in Monday's contest, which started at 11:05 a.m. EDT.

"After we lost Gabbard, we went to the pen," Washington said. "Nippert couldn't quite find the plate and (Franklin) German walked a few but he put zeroes up.

"It's a funny game, sometimes you walk people and it hurts. Sometimes you walk people and it don't."

The Rangers scored two runs in the seventh off reliever David Aardsma with RBI doubles by Gerald Laird and Josh Hamilton.

Hamilton added a run-scoring double in the ninth off Manny Delcarmen to close out the scoring.