Wild pitch does in Beckett, Red Sox

The Red Sox dropped a 5-3 decision to the Rangers Wednesday night in the teams' series finale in Arlington, Texas.

The pivotal play for the Rangers came in the seventh inning when Elvis Andrus scored with two outs on a Josh Beckett wild pitch. The pitch (a change-up) came after Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine visited the mound, choosing to leave the starter in after throwing 108 pitches.

Beckett would finish his 114-pitch outing allowing four runs over seven innings, giving up nine hits while striking out three and walking two.

The only other inning Beckett allowed Texas to score was the Rangers' three-run fourth inning, in which he gave up five hits.

Prior to the seventh, the Red Sox had tied the game in the sixth inning on Dustin Pedroia's solo home run. It was the Sox' second homer of the game, with Will Middlebrooks having hit his 12th of the season with two outs in the fourth inning.

The Red Sox could only manage five hits against Texas starter Derek Holland, who struck out seven and walked one over 7 2/3 innings.

Nelson Cruz added an insurance run for the Rangers in the eighth inning with a solo home run against reliever Matt Albers

Struggling again for the Red Sox was Carl Crawford, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a pop-out on a bunt before being replaced in the field in the seventh inning.

For more Red Sox news, go to the team page at weei.com/redsox [1].