Rangers beat Red Sox to take wild-card lead
By DAVID JIMENEZ,
Associated Press Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) Two days after being roughed up by the Red Sox, Frank Francisco helped the Texas Rangers knock Boston out of the wild-card lead.
Francisco bounced back from the worst outing of his career to pick up the save, Ian Kinsler homered and drove in two runs, and the Rangers passed the Red Sox in the AL wild-card race with a 4-3 win Sunday.
Francisco pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to give Texas a half-game lead over Boston. Less than 48 hours earlier, the closer was booed off the mound after being touched up for six runs in Boston's 8-4 victory Friday night.
"I believe in my teammates," Francisco said. "I feel like we have a chance to win when they're out there, and they feel the same way about me."
Kinsler, back in the lineup one day after he was hit by a pitch that ricocheted off his shoulder to his head, went deep for the second straight day and had an RBI single in the third that gave Texas a 3-1 lead.
Dustin Nippert (4-1) gave up two runs and six hits as the Rangers took two of three in the weekend series. The right-hander pitched 5 2-3 innings to defeat Boston on July 22, his only other win as a starter this season.
Texas, which also got a solo shot from Taylor Teagarden, went 7-2 against the Red Sox this season.