Bullpen had wild night, hands full with Texas

Charlie Zink had a 10-0 lead, but gave up eight runs. (John Bohn/Globe Staff)

When their startling 10-run first-inning lead started slipping away last night, the Red Sox began throwing pitchers out of the bullpen with abandon, trying to stop the Texas Rangers from stealing a game to which the Sox had staked such a powerful claim.

Knuckleballer Charlie Zink got his first big-league start, and the Sox gave the 28-year-old a jump-start in the first, the scoring barrage highlighted by a pair of three-run homers from David Ortiz. But it took most of the bullpen before the Sox emerged with a 19-17 win.

The Rangers picked up two runs in the second, then busted through the Sox' pitching with an eight-run fifth. Zink lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up 11 hits and eight runs, all earned. Javier Lopez, David Aardsma, and Manny Delcarmen came in from the pen, but couldn't contain the Rangers. Four pitchers after Zink, Hideki Okajima, the winner, came in. Okajima held off the Rangers long enough for the Sox to rally, sparked by a Kevin Youkilis three-run homer in the eighth.

As No. 2 reliever Lopez said, "The last team up wins."

Only when closer Jonathan Papelbon strode to the mound to start the ninth with a three-run lead did this topsy-turvy world seem to right itself. Papelbon struck out Milton Bradley swinging, and then got in a little trouble. After Marlon Byrd reached base on Youkilis's bobbled play at third, pinch hitter Brandon Boggs cracked an RBI double to center field to close it to 19-17. Papelbon ended it when he got Gerald Laird to fly out to right and Chris Davis to line out to Dustin Pedroia.

"There's a lot of emotional up and downs in that game," Papelbon said. "For me, my whole goal is to just stay keyed on what my job is at hand and that's closing the door on the ballgame. I saw an opportunity for the game to be over and for us to pull a win out of that crazy game and I'm going to do everything I can to keep that intact."

According to the Associated Press, only two teams have scored 10 runs in the first inning and lost. In 1989, the Pirates lost, 15-11, after getting 10 in the first against Philadelphia, and the Indians topped the Royals, 15-13 in 2006. The Sox narrowly escaped becoming the third.

"It just felt like we came in and everything we threw at them, they were right on top of us," said Delcarmen, who came on in the sixth inning, with the Sox ahead, 14-11. When he was replaced by Okajima in the seventh, the Rangers led, 16-14, and Delcarmen had given up four hits, three runs, two earned.

The Rangers didn't do any better, running through five pitchers, starting with Scott Feldman, who gave up 10 hits and 12 runs (six earned), before leaving in the second.

"Most of the guys will tell you it's the first time they've been part of a game like that, especially in the big leagues," said Lopez. "That's something you might see in Pacific Coast League. This was a crazy game. Obviously having Papelbon at the end helped us out, and even he wasn't immune."

"To win a game like that is awesome," said Delcarmen. "Pap does what he does best all the time."No matter how bad we did, we won."

It was probably not the debut Zink, who was optioned back to Pawtucket after the game, had dreamed of, but he was thrilled.

"That was insane." said Zink. "I figured we'd be able to keep scoring more and more runs."

"When you go to the bullpen early, you're always running the risk that exactly what happened can happen," said manager Terry Francona. "We couldn't stop anything."

The hitters picked up the pen last night.

"Okie said he thought he had to hang on to the 10-0 lead," said translator Jeff Yamaguchi. "He felt good out there. His changeup is coming back as well as his curveball. But it was a tough, long game."

"I don't think we ever worried about not getting the lead back, it was just a matter of trying to keep it to a minimum, if you will, trying to limit the damage. It was one of those seesaw games," said Lopez.

The voice of reason came from the closer.

"We'll be fine, we'll be able to bounce back," said Papelbon, who picked up his 32d save.

Barbara Matson can be reached at matson@globe.com.