As my colleague Paul detailed in his latest piece, the Red Sox once again had their troubles in Texas, falling to the Rangers 7-0 on Friday night. Starter Felix Doubront played with fire all night, as he gave up eight hits but just one run in his first three innings of week. In the fourth, he got burned, giving up five runs in the process (all of which coming with two outs). All told, Doubront would surrender six runs, twelve hits, and strike out just two batters in 3 and 2/3 innings of work.
May 3, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Felix Doubront (22) throws to the Texas Rangers during the first inning at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports
Following Doubront was Alex Wilson and Clayton Mortenson, who did manage to log some valuable innings to save the pen the rest of the series. The duo combined for 4 1/3 innings of mop up work, allowing just one run to the potent Rangers offense.
As evidenced by the donut on the scoreboard, the Sox never got much going throughout the night against Rangers’ starter Derek Holland. They scattered six hits with a multi-hit effort coming from Jacoby Ellsbury, but struck out nine times with twelve men left stranded.
The Sox will try again tomorrow with John Lackey on the bump, opposing the hard-throwing Alexi Ogando going for the Rangers.