Perez, Rangers take another series with 6-2 win over Red Sox

Texas Rangers’ Elvis Andrus slides safely into third base for an RBI-triple during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, June 25, 2016.

After Andrus tripled to the wall in the left-center field gap to make it 7-3, he came home on a wild pitch by reliever Robbie Ross Jr.

Martin Perez pitched six solid innings for his sixth straight win and the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 on Sunday.

Heath Hembree (4-0) worked a scoreless eighth before Koji Uehara struck out the side in the ninth for his second save. But the Rangers got that run back plus one in the bottom of the sixth when designated hitter Prince Fielder lined a two-run homer to right. “We gave them some support, and they did the rest”.

Little has gone right for Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz this season, but that hasn’t kept other teams from ruling him out as a trade target.

There’s something to be said for it being a ground ball party that only gave him a double play when the damage was already done…but this sort of disaster first is all-too-typical of a Buchholz game to simply chalk it up to luck. The Red Sox stranded a runner on third base in both the fourth and fifth innings while faring just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on the afternoon. Sunday’s loss to the Texas Rangers proved to be zero exception to that daunting trend.

The Buchholz start was the longest a Red Sox starter went in the series. “He really to get us to the end so we could turn it (the game) over”. Boston tallied 10 hits, with Mookie Betts and Brentz each collecting two.

The Rangers presented 40-year-old retiring slugger David Ortiz with a pair of custom Lucchese Italian goat leather boots before the game.

“I felt great”, Kela said. He also has surrendered 15 homers in his 12 starts.

Between David Price, Steven Wright and Buchholz, Sox starters combined to pitch only 12-1/3 innings this series while allowing 19 runs, 13 of them earned.

Red Sox: Utility player Brock Holt is getting close to a return after missing 34 games with a concussion, but the plan is for a cautious approach when he does get back.

The Rangers, who have highest bullpen ERA in the American League at 4.73, could use Kela as soon as possible, but he knows he still has work to do. The Texas native makes his second consecutive start after his five previous appearances were out of the bullpen.