ARLINGTON, Texas – Ian Kinsler had another leadoff homer and Adrian Beltre hit a grand slam Saturday night to help power the Texas Rangers to a 12-5 victory against the Boston Red Sox.
Beltre’s first homer for the Rangers came against his former team and capped a six-run inning that made it 9-3 in the fourth against John Lackey, the Texas native who often struggles back home. The Red Sox chose to intentionally walk Josh Hamilton and face Beltre.
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Kinsler became the first major leaguer to have leadoff homers in each of his team’s first two games in a season. Kinsler, who this year returned to the top of the Texas order, where he primarily hit in 2009, extended his team record with his 15th career leadoff homer.
Nelson Cruz has also homered in each of the first two games for the Rangers, and new catcher Yorvit Torrealba hit his first Texas homer. Elvis Andrus had three hits, including a double and a triple, drove in two runs and scored twice.
Colby Lewis (1-0), the Rangers’ postseason ace last fall when they went to their first World Series, had four strikeouts while allowing three runs over six innings.
Lackey (0-1) gave up nine runs and 10 hits in only 3 2/3 innings. He has a 6.78 ERA in 17 career starts at Rangers Ballpark, though he has a 6-6 record there.
After Lackey quickly retired the first two batters of the fourth, Torrealba had a double and Julio Borbon followed with a triple into the right-field corner. Kinsler walked, Andrus had a run-scoring double and the Red Sox then chose to walk Hamilton, who already had two singles and an RBI.
Beltre hit a 1-0 pitch over the left-field wall for his ninth career grand slam. After being an All-Star for the first time in his only season with Boston last year, Beltre turned down a $10 million option to stay and instead signed an $80 million, five-year deal with the Rangers that has the potential for another $16 million in 2016.
Torrealba hit a two-run homer off reliever Dan Wheeler in the fifth.
The Rangers raised their AL championship flag before the opener Friday and got their rings in a pregame ceremony Saturday. They have now won their first two games for only the second time in 11 seasons.
Boston missed the playoffs last season for only the second time in an eight-year span that included two World Series titles. The last time the Red Sox lost their first two games was 2005 against the New York Yankees.
David Ortiz has homered in both of Boston’s games, and drove in three runs to set the major league record for career RBI by a designated hitter with 1,004. He matched Edgar Martinez’s mark of 1,003 with his two-run homer in the second, then broke the mark with an RBI groundout in the fourth.
The homer by Ortiz put Boston up 2-1, and his grounder made it 3-3.
Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer in the seventh off Rangers right-hander Mason Tobin, who made his major league debut, replacing Lewis.
Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, the two All-Stars that Boston added over the winter, have had drastically different starts.
Gonzalez had three singles Saturday and is 5 for 9. Crawford is hitless in seven at-bats with four strikeouts and a walk.
NOTES: Lackey’s 34 starts against the Rangers are his most against any team.
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