BOSTON – The Rangers could have won a lot of different games Saturday. They could have beaten Boston, 3-2. Or by a bigger margin. Or they could have taken advantage of some late-inning chances and held off the Red Sox late rally and won a close, but higher-scoring game.

Instead, they lost 5-3.

They lost because Boston executed and the Rangers didn't. It's that simple.

"We certainly had chances to put more runs on the board," manager Ron Washington said. "But for as many chances as we had to do that, we also had a chance to win 3-2."

The Rangers could have built upon their 3-2 lead with decent scoring chances in the sixth, seventh and eighth, but went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position in those innings and the one hit (a single by Ian Kinsler) didn't score anybody.

When the Red Sox got a chance, the middle of their order put a hurt on the Rangers' pitchers again. Manny Ramirez' two-run homer off Joaquin Benoit caromed off the light standard above the Green Monster in left field in the eighth and left the Rangers' heads ringing.

The Rangers took a 3-2 lead in the third inning and a wobbly Jason Jennings steadied himself to hand the same lead over to the bullpen in the seventh. Jamey Wright handed the lead intact to Joaquin Benoit. But for the second time in four days, the Rangers' setup man couldn't get out of his inning.

With one out, Benoit, who declined to comment after the game, allowed a double to No. 2 hitter Dustin Pedroia, bringing up the middle of the Boston order with the tying runner in scoring position. In other words, it created havoc.

Against a shift to the right side, David Ortiz lined a ball to the hole between first and second. Ian Kinsler, in the outfield grass, dove for the ball and got some glove on it, but it squirted far enough away for Pedroia to score.

That changed the whole game. Had Kinsler been able to hold the ball, Washington said he would have walked Ramirez and pitched instead to Kevin Youkilis. Instead, Benoit had to pitch to the league's hottest power hitter. Benoit got ahead 0-and-1, then tried to get a sinker by Ramirez. He reached down and crushed it.

"The pitch was down, but Manny doesn't care where the pitch is," Washington said. "He just went down and got it. Good hitters do what they need to do."

AP

Rangers pitching coach Mark Connor (left) and catcher Adam Melhuse (right) leave the mound after talking to pitcher Jason Jennings.

The Rangers' best hitters had a chance to extend the lead from 3-2 before Ramirez ever came up. But with one out and runners on the corners in the top of the eighth, Michael Young popped out to first on a first pitch fastball from Mike Timlin, and Josh Hamilton did the same after the Red Sox went to lefty Javier Lopez.

Young figured Timlin would come after him with a sinker to get a ground ball, probably to the left side. He aimed to go up the middle.

"It was a bad at-bat," Young said. "I've got to do a better job of getting the guy home there. It was actually a good pitch to hit. I'd swing at that pitch 100 times again. I just popped it up."

And instead of a 3-2 win or something even bigger, the Rangers simply had another loss on their hands.