Crawford's slam helps Red Sox top Rangers

Carl Crawford hit a grand slam as the Boston Red Sox scored eight runs in the fourth inning and snapped a two-game skid with a 12-7 victory over the Texas Rangers Saturday at Fenway Park.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a two-run homer during Boston's big inning, which featured eight hits as the Red Sox sent 13 batters to the plate and bounced back from a 10-0 loss to the Rangers the night before.

Erik Bedard (5-9) earned his first win since joining the Red Sox in a trade with Seattle. The Red Sox averaged only 3.3 runs in his first three starts, but by the time the fourth inning was over, the Red Sox had a 9-3 cushion.

Bedard allowed five hits and three runs in six innings.

Josh Reddick had four hits and Dustin Pedroia barely missed a grand slam, hitting a shot high off the centerfield wall with the bases loaded in the sixth as the Red Sox tagged six Rangers pitchers for 16 hits.

Colby Lewis (11-10) lasted only 3 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He was pulled shortly after Saltalamacchia's homer to left tied it 3 in the fourth. "I don't know. What was your assessment of it?" a frustrated Lewis said of his outing. "I had Salty out on a 2-2 pitch and he didn't call it. The next pitch, he hits a homer."

Yoshinori Tateyama replaced Lewis and allowed four runs and two hits, with a pair of intentional walks that set him up to face a pair of righthanded batters. He got one but gave up a key two-out RBI single to pinch hitter Mike Aviles that set the stage for Crawford's grand slam. "I think I should get an out against a righthanded hitter," Tateyama said through a translator. "I could not do that." -- AP