A night after they managed only a single by Ortiz off Yu Darvish, the Red Sox broke loose. And there will be no official scoring debates for Ortiz after he hit his seventh home run and lined a double into the right-field corner.
Jon Lester (4-4) gave up three runs and four hits in seven innings, a week after striking out a career-high 15 against Oakland. The lefty struck out eight, matching Detroit’s Max Scherzer at 66 for the American League lead.
Ortiz broke up Darvish’s no-hit bid Friday night with a clean single with two outs in the ninth inning. There also was his towering flyball in the seventh that dropped untouched but was ruled an error after Darvish had retired the first 20 Red Sox hitters, a scoring decision Ortiz indicated Saturday that he will appeal.
Ortiz pulled the first pitch of the third into the right-field seats. His double came an inning later, when he scored as a part of a four-run outburst for a 6-0 lead.
Martin Perez (4-3) lost his third consecutive start since the end of his 26-inning scoreless streak. The lefty allowed six runs and 14 base runners (nine hits, four walks and a hit batter) in only 3 2-3 innings.
Perez has given up 19 runs over 13 1-3 innings the last three games, and his ERA has tripled in that span — from 1.42 to 4.38.
The Rangers didn’t have a runner against Lester until Shin-Soo Choo led off the fourth with a double to deep center beyond the reach of center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. Choo came home on a sacrifice fly by Prince Fielder before Alex Rios added an RBI triple.
Boston went ahead to stay in the second after loading the bases with two outs. Victorino singled home a run, but Bradley was thrown out at the plate trying to score a second run.
The homer by Ortiz was his 380th with the Red Sox, breaking a tie with Dwight Evans for fourth on the career list. Jim Rice is third at 382. It was his 19th homer at Texas, one short of Jason Giambi for the most by an opponent there.
Victorino and Jonny Gomes each had two-run singles in the fourth.
Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus, who significantly trimmed his beard that had been reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln’s, had two hits. He had an RBI double in the fifth for a seven-game hitting streak in which he
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- Boston Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. leaps unsuccessfully for a ball hit to center field for an RBI-triple by Texas Rangers’ Alex Rios during the fourth inning of a baseball game on Saturday, May 10, 2014, in Arlington, Texas. Rangers’ Adrian Beltre scored on the play. (AP Photo/Jim Cowsert)
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