ARLINGTON, Texas — Andrew Benintendi went 5 for 5 with two homers, six RBIs and a terrific catch in left field, and David Price struck out nine over six scoreless innings as the Boston Red Sox stretched the longest winning streak in the majors to six games with an 11-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
The first Red Sox rookie with two five-hit games in a season, Benintendi had a three-run homer in the fifth that chased All-Star pitcher Yu Darvish (6-7), who matched career highs by allowing seven runs and 11 hits.
Benintendi led off the eighth by going the opposite way for his 12th homer, with the ball hitting on top of the 14-foot wall down the left-field line. Jackie Bradley Jr. followed with his 11th home run.
Price (4-2) threw 70 of 106 pitches for strikes in his eighth start since missing the season’s first seven weeks with an elbow strain. The lefty departed after his second walk started the seventh.
Adrian Beltre has 2,974 career hits after a three-hit night for Texas that included his 600th career double. Mike Napoli went deep for the fourth straight game, his 18th homer being a three-run drive in the eighth after the Rangers trailed 11-0, and before Delino DeShields homered to start the Texas ninth.
A night after his two-run, bloop single in the 11th inning was the difference in a 7-5 win, Benintendi put the Red Sox up to stay with a dribbler through the middle of the infield for an RBI single in the second. He scored on a single by No. 9 hitter Tzu-Wei Lin, the first career RBI for the Taiwan-born player.
Benintendi doubled in the fourth and scored on a single by Christian Vazquez before Lin had another RBI single to make it 4-0.
There was also a defensive gem for Benintendi, who ran a long way, leaped and extended his glove to catch Napoli’s deep drive in the fourth before hitting the padded left-field wall while still in the air.
Darvish, selected Sunday to his fourth AL All-Star team, struck out four with no walks while his season ERA rose from 3.11 to 3.56 over 4 1/3 innings.
The Red Sox finished with 19 hits. The bottom four batters in their lineup were 8 for 9 against Darvish, while the top four went 1 for 12.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox go for a sweep of the season series when RHP Doug Fister (0-1) makes his third start since being claimed off waivers from the Angels. RHP Andrew Cashner (3-7), struck in the stomach and forearm by a shattered bat when he last pitched Thursday, has given up nine runs over nine innings in his last two starts for Texas.
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