THAT WAS SWEEP

The Red Sox have come from behind to earn nine victories this season. However, no late inning rally was necessary on Patriots Day. Boston pounded out 12 hits and cruised to an 8-3 victory over Texas to close out a sweep of its four-game series with the Rangers.

Leading the charge was a suddenly recharged David Ortiz, who had a pair of doubles and drove in three runs. Dustin Pedroia also chipped in with a pair of hits and two runs driven in while Julio Lugo was 4 for 4 at the plate with a run driven in and scored a pair of runs. That atack was backed up by a solid outing from rookie starting pitcher Clay Buchholz, who tossed six innings of shutout baseball to pick up his first victory of the season. Buchholz is now 1-1 with a 4.79 era after giving up just five hits and striking out six batters.

The offense scored at least five runs for the ninth straight game despite the fact that the hot hitting Manny Ramirez (.338) and Sean Casey (.347) were given the day off. Right now the Red sox are getting solid performances at the plate up and down their lineup and are now 14-7 on the season and in first place in the division by two games over Baltimore.

Boston will now ready themselves for a three-game set with the Los Angeles Angels begining tomorrow evening. Jered Weaver (1-3. 3.60) goes for the Angels and will square off against Josh Beckett. (2-1, 5.12).