MLB

• Ortiz, Red Sox resume series with Rangers

  
  

  (Sports Network) - The Boston Red Sox try for their third straight win this evening when they continue their four-game series with the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.

  David Ortiz broke out of an early-season slump in the opener of this set on Friday with a grand slam while driving in five runs total, as the Red Sox rolled to an 11-3 win. Dustin Pedroia belted a two-run homer and Daisuke Matsuzaka threw into the sixth inning for Boston, winners in six of its last seven games.

  Ortiz, who entered the game just 7-for-63, homered in the third, and Boston scored nine times over a two-inning span to pull away. Despite going 2-for-4, though, Ortiz's average stands at .134 this year.

  Matsuzaka (4-0) allowed five hits and three runs, while walking two and fanning four.

  Milton Bradley extended his hitting streak to 13 games in the loss, while Hank Blalock hit a two-run homer for Texas, which has dropped six of its last eight contests.

  Luis Mendoza (0-2) surrendered five hits and seven runs through three-plus innings to suffer the loss.

  Getting the call for the Red Sox tonight will be left-hander Jon Lester, who is 1-2 with a 5.31 earned run average. Lester received a no-decision on Monday against the Cleveland Indians, as he gave up four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 frames of Boston's 6-4 win.

  Lester has started one other game against the Rangers, but did not receive a decision in that one, allowing three runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings.

  Texas will counter with struggling right-hander Jason Jennings, who has lost all three of his starts this season, while pitching to a lofty 8.79 ERA. Jennings' latest setback came on Monday against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, as he surrendered seven runs (six earned) and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

  Jennings, who was 2-9 a year ago in an injury-plagued season with Houston, has given up 15 runs (14 earned) in 14 1/3 innings this season and has not lasted past the fifth inning in any of his outings.

  The 29-year-old right-hander, though, has had success against the Red Sox in his career, going 2-0 against them with a 2.08 ERA in two starts.

  Boston won six of its 10 encounters with Texas last season and is 19-10 against the Rangers since the start of the 2005 campaign. These teams did split a four-game series in Fenway Park between June 29-July 2, 2007.

  04/19 10:48:05 ET