By Sean McAdam
CSNNE.com
ARLINGTON, Texas -- In an effort to get newcomer Carl Crawford to relax some, Terry Francona dropped him from third to seventh in the Red Sox lineup Sunday.
Whether that was the key or not, Crawford, hitless in his first two games, broke out a little, with a single in the second and another in the seventh inning.
Crawford hit a cue shot down the third base line that landed just an inch or two inside the foul line, getting him going and snapping his hitless streak at eight at-bats.
"It was a relief to finally get the first hit,'' Crawford said after the Sox dropped a 5-1 decision to Texas. "That way, I can get that out of the way and focus on just trying to get better. I didn't know for sure if it was going to be fair or foul.
"Those are the kind of little things that kind of get you going sometimes, so hopefully, that's the start of something.''
Changing teams and signing a mega-contract (seven years, 142 million) was a new experience for Crawford and he acknowledged that, perhaps in an effort to justify his deal, he tried too hard.
Boston Red Sox
"It's my first time doing this,'' Crawford said. "For me, I was probably pressing a little bit, wanting to do well so bad, you forget to just relax and play ball. I probably had a little case of that. Hopefully I can relax from here on out. Once you get that first hit out of the way, it feels like just doing what you normally do.''
Compared to Jon Lester Friday and John Lackey Saturday, Clay Buchholz didn't pitch terribly Sunday. But he didn't pitch well enough to get the Red Sox their first win, either.
Buchholz had the good sense to only allow home runs with the bases empty. Problem was, he did it four times -- David Murphy in the second, Ian Kinsler in the third, Mike Napoli in the fifth and Nelson Cruz in the seventh.
The only other hit Buchholz allowed was a single to Michael Young in the second. But the four homers were more than enough for the Rangers.
"I thought two of the homers were hit well and two of them weren't hit that well,'' recounted Buchholz. "That's the way it goes. I'd rather give them up with nobody on base than with a couple of guys on.
"Today didn't seem like a big struggle for me. Nobody on, behind in the count a couple of times, I'm not going to give in . . . I'd rather give up a hit than walk a guy, then have that guy score. All in all, I think I left four pitches up in the zone and I don't think they mishit one all series. You've got to tip your cap sometimes.''
The four homers off Buchholz were not a career high. He gave up five to Toronto on Sept. 29, 2009.
"He didn't have an inning over 18 pitches,'' said Terry Francona. "He didn't have to pitch out of jams, he didn't have long innings. He just gave up the four solos.''
Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a rough series. He was 0-for-3 Sunday, making him 0-for-10 in the opening series with five strikeouts.
"The one thing that Salty does so well is work the count and swing at strikes, and you can see how anxious he is right now, swinging at a lot of first-pitch strikes," said Francona. "He's just got to relax right now and do what he can do and not try to get it all back in one at-bat.
"He swung at a lot of first pitches this series. I think he was just overanxious.''
Francona absolved Saltalamacchia for any blame regarding the 26 runs the Rangers tallied in the series.
"Results aside, I think Salty does a very good job with the pitchers,'' said Francona. "If a ball is over the middle, that's the way the game is. And the Rangers are good enough where if you make a mistake, they hit it a long way. A tough three-game series isn't going to change our view of Salty.''
Jonathan Papelbon made his first appearance of the season, getting in an inning of work in the eighth with the Sox already trailing 4-1.
Papelbon yielded a leadoff double to Andres Blanco, hit Kinsler and gave up a run-scoring double to Michael Young. After intentionally walking Josh Hamilton to load the bases, Papelbon then struck out Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz and David Murphy in succession.
The Sox were outscored 26-11 in the three-game series despite effectively limiting the damage done by Hamilton, the 2010 American League MVP.
Hamilton had three hits in the series, but two were singles. His only extra-base hit was a double when the Rangers were well ahead in the eighth inning of the opener. He added an RBI single in Saturday's win.
The Sox walked Hamilton intentionally twice, with mixed results. On Saturday, with first base open, they walked him in the fourth to bring up Adrian Beltre who foiled the strategy with a grand slam off John Lackey.
Sunday, they walked him in the eighth before Papelbon struck out the next three hitters.
Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam