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Boston Red Sox Sean Casey (22) and Kevin Youkilis (R) celebrate as Texas Rangers catcher Gerald Laird (L) watches after Youkilis hit a three run home run in the eighth inning of their MLB American League baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts August 12, 2008.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder
BOSTON (Reuters) - The Boston Red Sox squandered a 10-0 first inning lead before rallying to edge a wild 19-17 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday.
David Ortiz belted a pair of three-run homers in the 10-run first inning that gave Boston a huge early advantage before the Rangers fought back to lead 16-14 in the seventh inning at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox responded with four more runs in the bottom of the eighth to finally secure victory.
"After that first inning when they had us down 10-0, I think everybody in the ballpark and everybody in all of Massachusetts thought that the game was over," Texas manager Ron Washington told reporters.
The teams combined for 37 hits, 20 of them by the Rangers, who scored eight runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth to take the lead for the first time at 15-14.
The teams tied the AL record for most combined runs in a game and Ortiz tied a league record for most RBI in an inning with six on a bizarre night on many fronts.
Texas starter Scott Feldman became the first major league pitcher since 1918 to allow 12 runs and not take the loss and he was just the second pitcher since 1900 to give up 10 runs in the first inning and stay in the game.
Kevin Youkilis also homered twice for the Red Sox, including a two-run shot in the eighth that provided the winning runs, as Boston scored a season-high run total.
Hideki Okajima (3-2) got the win in relief.
"The roller coaster ride in Boston's always fun," Youkilis said. "Luckily, we got the cheers at the end."
Ortiz wound up with three hits, six RBIs and scored four runs for Boston, while Youkilis had five RBIs and Dustin Pedroia had five hits, scored five runs and drove in another two.
Ian Kinsler hit a three-run homer and had two hits and four RBIs for Texas, while Marlon Byrd had five hits, scored four runs and drove in another three for the Rangers.
(Writing by Roger Lajoie in Toronto; Editing by N.Ananthanarayanan
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