Bedard picks up first Sox win

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By Jessica Camerato
CSNNE.comFollow @JCameratoNBA
BOSTON -- Erik Bedard hadnt received much by way of run support this season.

He entered Saturdays game against the Texas Rangers with an average of just 3.30 runs of support in 21 outings with the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox.

His new teammates changed all that in one inning.

Down 3-0, the Red Sox scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth and sent 13 batters to the plate. Jarrod Saltalamacchia kicked off the offensive attack with a two-run homerun and Carl Crawford smacked a grand slam, locking in Bedards first W with the team.

Bedard threw six innings (six strikeouts, five hits, three earned runs, four walks) for his first victory since June 15. His last start, in which he threw four scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics, was cut short by a rain delay and resulted in a no decision.

The Red Sox were happy to go to bat -- literally -- for their starting pitcher. Five players had multi-hit games and the team had 16 collectively.

Youre not going to quiet this offense that long, Bedard said, And its a matter of time before they scored a lot of runs. And we did.

Terry Francona praised Bedard for halting the Rangers bats, which scored three runs through the first three innings.

It starts out where theyre scoring and it seems like theyre tacking on, and hes able to stop it, Francona said. He actually had a bunch of strikeouts there for a while. And then we have the big inning and the game gets completely turned around.

Francona also noted that he thought Bedard was still battling with soreness in his left knee, which he believed contributed to early control issues. Bedard said he felt a little sore at the start of the game but loosened up as the game went on.

I would say a lot of it (control) is with his knee, Francona said. I think theres still some soreness and some instability there. He ends up throwing with his arm more than his body. As much as you want pitchers to keep their legs under them, I think at times its a little hard for him still. Probably going to have to fight that a little bit.

Soreness wont stop Bedard from continuing to fight on the mound. After earning his first win with the Red Sox, he emphasized his goals for the team.

Its nice, he said. At the end of the day, its for the team. If we win the game at the end of the day and I pitch good and we play good, thats all that counts.

Jessica Camerato is on Twitter at http:twitter.comJCameratoNBA

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