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Carrie Stroup here with your Rangers vs. Red Sox betting line for this April 18 game, which was coming in at near even -107 Texas. Find all the latest Baseball lines here at Sportsbook.com and receive up to $250 in FREE CASH when you open an online betting account now.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: Texas -107 & 9 over -120
After getting blown out by 15 runs in the series opener, Boston tries to even the score Wednesday night against Texas in the final installment of a two-game set.
The Rangers absolutely hammered Jon Lester and the Red Sox on Tuesday night, winning 18-3, pounding out 21 hits including six home runs. They are now 4-0 on the road this season, batting .338 (.381 OBP) and averaging 8.0 runs per game outside of Texas. But the Red Sox can also hit, as they have scored 34 runs with a .312 BA plus 19 walks over their past five contests. They also have the superior pitcher on the mound Wednesday with Josh Beckett being opposed by Derek Holland. Beckett has dominated at Fenway Park since the start of last season, going 7-2 with a 2.58 ERA and 1.06 WHIP.
Holland (1-0, 3.38 ERA) has thrown a pair of quality starts to begin 2012. He held the White Sox to three runs in six innings in a loss on April 7, striking out five and walking three. But he was much better Thursday versus Seattle, throwing 7.1 innings and allowing just five hits, two runs, zero walks and eight strikeouts. The 25-year-old Holland has faced Boston three times in his brief career, going 2-1 with a 2.94 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. His best outing came last September at Fenway when he threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and zero walks, while fanning six. This was quite an improvement from his first trip to Boston in June 2009 when he surrendered four runs in just 4.2 innings.
But if Holland can’t get the job done, the Rangers bullpen has done an outstanding job this season, posting a 2.20 ERA and 0.91 WHIP in 28.2 IP this year with an amazing 28 strikeouts and just one walk. On the road, Texas relievers have a 0.87 ERA and 0.87 WHIP, allowing just one run in 10.1 innings.
Seven Texas starters tallied multi-hit games on Tuesday, with Mike Napoli smacking two homers, and Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz and Michael Young also going deep. But Hamilton is the only one in this pack of power hitters that has had success against Beckett in his career, going 6-for-14 with two homers. When facing Beckett, Napoli is 2-for-12 with 4 K, Beltre is 4-for-23 with 10 K, Cruz is 1-for-8 with 3 K and Young is 4-for-24 with 4 K. The totals for this foursome are: 11-for-67 (.164 BA), 2 HR, 5 RBI and 21 K.
Beckett (1-1, 5.68 ERA) was hammered in his 2012 opener in Detroit (4.2 IP, 7 ER, 5 HR), but he bounced back with a masterpiece on Friday, allowing just five hits and one run in eight innings against the Rays. He has struggled at times in his eight career starts versus Texas (3-2, 5.03 ERA, 1.39 WHIP), but he shut the Rangers down in his one meeting with them last year, throwing six innings and allowing just four hits, two walks and one run. Boston was 20-10 with Beckett on the mound last year, including 11-3 in his home starts.
The usually patient Red Sox did not draw a single walk in Tuesday’s beatdown, but they did crank out 10 hits, including four for extra-bases (two doubles, two homers). None of their players has more than eight career at-bats against Holland, but the team was excellent when facing lefties last season, posting a .281 BA, .354 OBP and .453 SLG.
Unlike the stellar Texas bullpen, Boston relievers have been horrendous this season. In 34.2 innings, they have a 6.23 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. The numbers are even worse at home, where the Sox bullpen sports a 6.61 ERA and 1.59 WHIP, while serving up six homers in just 16.1 innings.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
