Arlington, TX, United States (AHN Sports) – With the addition of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, and the return from injury by Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, the Boston Red Sox were supposed to power their way through the American League.
However, it was the defending American League champions who showed the power in an opening series sweep against the Red Sox.
The Texas Rangers hit .333 and stroked 11 home runs in a series sweep by a combined 26-11 score that drew 144,828, – the most ever at Rangers Ballpark for a season-opening, three-game series, topping the stadium’s opening weekend in 1994.
Ian Kinsler, who set a major league record by hitting a leadoff homer in the first two games, and Nelson Cruz set a record by being the first set of teammates to each homer in the first three games of the season.
It’s pretty special,” Kinsler told MLB.com. “I don’t know anything about it … I’m not trying to do it, but right now we’re getting lucky … we’re getting good pitches to hit. It’s pretty fun.”
The 11 home runs are the most ever for the first three games of season by the Rangers. They hit eight over three games to begin the 1993 and 2000 seasons. It’s also the most ever given up by the Red Sox in their first three games of a season.
“I don’t think these guys missed a mistake pitch in 27 innings,” Boston’s Sunday starter Clay Buchholz said.
After pounding Jon Lester and John Lackey in the first two games, Texas belted four solo homers in five innings against Buchholz on Sunday in a 5-1 win the provided the Sox their first 0-3 start since losing five straight to start the 1996 season.
“I think we’re all frustrated,” said Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. “We got outplayed. It’s not for lack of talent on our team. We got outpitched, we got outhit, they played better defense than us. We have to play better than we’ve been playing.
Boston’s bats were mostly silent but its vaunted starters blew up in matchup against less-renowned hurlers: C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison, who have a combined 68 wins. The 11 homers allowed is believed to be the most a Boston team has yielded in its first three games.
Boston hit .200 with three homers – two by David Ortiz.
On the other hand, Lester, Lackey and Buchholz combined to yield 18 earned runs, 21 hits and nine homers in just 15 1-3 innings.
Carl Crawford, Boston’s $142 million free agent acquisition, went hitless with four strikeouts in seven at-bats in the first two games batting third and was dropped to seventh in the order Sunday against the left-hander Harrison. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Gonzalez, who is close to signing a contract extension that will exceed Crawford’s, went 5-for-13 in the set but four of the hits were singles.
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