BOSTONDespite the controversy swirling from nearly every nook of Fenway Park before the game, the Red Sox beat the Rangers, 9-2, Monday night.
In the process, the Sox gave Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish a rude welcome on his first appearance at Fenway Park. Darvish took the loss, falling to 11-8 with a 4.57 ERA. He went 6 23 innings, giving up six runs on 11 hits and four walks with nine strikeouts and a wild pitch.
Aaron Cook earned the win to improve to 3-5, lowering his ERA from 5.24 to 4.70.
He went seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts.
Although Aaron Cook had runners on base in every inning except the sixth, he allowed just one run.
The Rangers scored first getting a run off the Red Sox right-hander in the second inning. Nelson Cruz led off with a double, scoring on David Murphys single to center.
The top four batters in the Sox lineupJacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia, and Adrian Gonzalezwent 11-for-18, with eight RBI, and six runs scored.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox started their scoring with two in the third and three in fourth.
In the third, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double to left, scoring on Carl Crawfords double to right. Adrian Gonzalezs one-out double to right scored Crawford.
With one out in the fourth, Ryan Kalish walked, going to second on Mike Aviles single to center and scoring on Ellsbury's double. Crawfords sacrifice fly scored Aviles and Pedroias double to left scored Ellsbury.
The Sox added a run in the seventh as Pedroia led off with a double, scoring on Gonzalezs single to right.
In the eighth, with reliever Michael Kirkman pitching, Ellsbury hit a one-out infield single, scoring on Crawfords double off the wall. After a walk to Pedroia walked, Gonzalezs single to right scored Crawford, with Pedroia going to third. Tanner Scheppers replaced Kirkman, giving up a sacrifice fly to Cody Ross, scoring Pedro Ciriaco who pinch-ran for Pedroia.
Junichi Tazawa, who relieved Cook, gave up a solo home run to Adrian Beltre, leading off the ninth.