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Rangers score seven in second, cruise past Red Sox

Sep 7, 2008 - 4:41 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- For the Texas Rangers, youth won out over experience.

Led by two home runs and five RBI from recent minor league call-up Nelson Cruz and an impressive outing by rookie pitcher Matt Harrison, the Rangers routed veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and the Boston Red Sox, 15-8, on Saturday.

Wakefield, the 42-year-old righthander, did not last through the second inning of his 500th career appearance after the Rangers roughed him up for seven runs in the frame.

Boston (83-58) had won four straight and six of its previous seven by a combined margin of 52-17, then surrendered almost that many runs in one game. They also missed a chance to gain ground on Tampa Bay (85-55) in the American League East, still trailing by 2 1/2 games after the Rays also lost.

"Whatever," Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp said of the lost opportunity. "We just play the best we can and whatever happens happens. I don't really care, putting pressure on each game like that, it's not that serious. Go out and play to the best of our abilities and at the end of the year we'll see where we're at."

The Rangers triumphed for the first time in nine tries against the Red Sox.

"It was just time, we were due for something like that," said Texas outfielder Brandon Boggs, who tripled and scored two runs. "It feels great, especially when they come in here - they swept us last time. It's kind of tough morale-wise when you can't beat a team, but today was good. We finally got an explosion of offense."

Cruz, who spent the entire year at Class AAA Oklahoma - and was named Pacific Coast League MVP - before his recall on August 25, entered the day with one home run in 11 major league games (39 at-bats). He then clubbed two in back-to-back at-bats in the third and fifth innings before adding a two-run double in the eighth.

"It felt good, really good," Cruz said. "The first one was a fast ball in and the other one was a slider. And my last at-bat I think was the best one, because I got two strikes and had to be really patient to drive the ball to the gap."

For Texas, Josh Hamilton contributed two hits, driving in three runs to increase his major league-leading RBI total to 124, and Gerald Laird had three hits and an RBI.

"In this game, it's what have you done for me lately," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Hamilton, who'd delivered just four RBI in his previous 15 outings. "It'll be good for everybody if he finishes strong because he's our run-producer. He's experiencing things he's never experienced before and he's had to fight through it."

"That's the story of the season," Hamilton said of the potent Texas offense's reappearance. "We have good nights and it's one of those things where we're not going to quit as a team."

Harrison (7-3), a 23-year-old lefthander making his 12th start, tossed six innings, allowing four runs and seven hits while walking one and striking out four.

"This is a real good lineup. You've got to make good pitches," Harrison said of facing Boston. "It was a good game to get through. And it was good that our guys put some runs on the board."

"Each time he takes the ball, he gets better as far as maturity goes," Washington said of Harrison. "He's still learning and he's still got a lot to learn."

But Wakefield (8-10), who became the second Red Sox pitcher to reach 500 career appearances (Bob Stanley, 637), had his worst outing of 2008. After a 1-2-3 inning in the first, Wakefield completely melted down in the second after getting the first two batters out.

"I don't know that he lost it," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Wakefield. "He couldn't control it, the wind was blowing. I thought it was it was moving like crazy, he just couldn't keep it in the zone."

Following Laird's double, Wakefield's wild pitch advanced Laird to third and a passed ball on the next pitch allowed him to score and tie the game 1-1.

Wakefield walked both Chris Davis and Cruz and then surrendered an RBI single to German Duran that brought home Davis. The knuckleballer then hit Frank Catalanotto with a pitch to load the bases and forced two more runs in by walking Brandon Boggs and Michael Young in succession before Hamilton lined a double into right to score another two.

After Hank Blalock singled home Young, Texas was ahead 7-1 and Wakefield's night was done.

"I'm not going to make any excuses," Wakefield said of the second-shortest outing of his 16-season major league career. "I just couldn't find the strike zone and when I did, they hit balls in the hole. It was one of those days I'd like to forget."

"He had phenomenal movement, he just couldn't get it over the plate," said catcher Kevin Cash, who has caught all of Wakefield's 26 starts this year. "It just kind of snowball effect in that second inning. He just didn't have a feel for getting it over the plate like he usually does. It was violent in the zone. I think it was so good that it was in and out of the zone and that hurt him."

Boston tried to climb back into it in the top of the third, pulling to within 7-4 on Kevin Youkilis' three-run blast into the Rangers' bullpen in right center, his 25th home run of the season.

"I think what was the key tonight was after they got him in the first inning and put up the three-run bomb by Youkilis, he settled down and he stopped 'em for three more innings," Washington said of Harrison. "That's a confidence builder right there."

But the Rangers came right back to add two more in the third inning on Cruz's two-run bomb to straight-away center field off reliever Chris Smith. Cruz's solo shot in the fifth off Mike Timlin made it 10-4.

"That was fun to watch," Hamilton said of Cruz's big night. "Glad, happy that he's doing well, we've been trying to get him to have some fun and relax a little bit and go out there. He's got all the talent in the world and just try to put in the fun aspect."