Updated Aug 18, 2011 2:12 AM ET

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)

For 128 pitches, Ervin Santana scrapped, clawed and somehow held off the relentless Texas Rangers. When Ian Kinsler put Santana’s 129th pitch softly into left field, the Rangers demonstrated why the Angels just don’t appear capable of holding them down this season.

Kinsler hit a tiebreaking two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Rangers rallied for their third straight victory over the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Kinsler came up with the Angel Stadium crowd on its feet to cheer Santana, who had struck out two Rangers and had two strikes on Kinsler after Texas loaded the bases with no outs. Kinsler broke his bat on Santana’s slider, but got the ball over the infield.

”It was loud. The whole stadium knew what was going on,” Kinsler said. ”That’s the most fun part about the whole game. . . . I was battling against (Santana) all night. He was battling me with sliders, battling me with the heater. We were getting guys on base, but couldn’t beat him. That was our opportunity, and we almost let it slip by. I was just trying to get it in there somewhere.”

Whether they’re doing it with homers or broken-bat bloops, the defending AL champions have been too much for the struggling Angels this week, taking a commanding seven-game lead in the AL West before Thursday’s series finale. Michael Young had his third straight three-hit game for the Rangers, who have 43 hits in the series after pounding out 12 more.

Mitch Moreland homered and Josh Hamilton hit a run-scoring single for the Rangers, who have won six straight to open a 10-game road trip. C.J. Wilson (12-5) yielded five hits over seven innings for the Rangers (72-52), who are a season-best 20 games over .500 for the first time since 1999 by seizing control of this key four-game series.

The Rangers again downplayed the significance of this head-to-head matchup against their only remaining competition for the division title, but a little excitement still leaked out.

”The whole game, I’m worked up tonight more than I’ve ever been worked up so far,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. ”The whole atmosphere was great. It was just the game, with C.J. and Santana going at it.”

Mark Trumbo had an early RBI double and Howie Kendrick homered in the eighth inning for the Angels, who have lost five straight and seven of eight. Los Angeles trailed the Rangers by 1-1/2 games early last week before sliding to the fringe of the playoff race during this disastrous stretch.

”There’s nothing deflating about it,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ”Obviously, the longer it takes to start stringing together a streak and stringing together wins, the tougher it is to accomplish this, but this is doable.”

Kendrick hit a two-out homer off reliever Koji Uehara, but Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his 24th save, stranding Trumbo on third base.

After routing Los Angeles in the first two games of the series, Texas trailed 2-0 in the first inning before coming back against Santana (9-9), who had won five consecutive starts with a no-hitter during a nine-game unbeaten streak.

Texas beat rookie starters for the Angels in the first two games of the series, but was nearly as effective against Santana, who gave up 10 hits and four walks. He had four strikeouts, including the 1,000th of his career in the first inning, but lost for the first time in 10 starts since June 21

”We’ve still got a more than month to go, so we have to keep playing hard and anything can happen,” Santana said. ”We just have to play our game. . . . I didn’t have my best stuff, but it’s a good battle.”

Wilson pitched six straight scoreless innings after a rocky start. After Trumbo’s drive to right field in the first inning hit near the top of the elevated fence and bounced back onto the field. Torii Hunter slid safely into home, adeptly touching home plate with his hand to beat the tag.

The Rangers got a runner on base in every inning against Santana, but didn’t score until Hamilton drove in Elvis Andrus in the fifth. Moreland then tied it with his 14th homer leading off the sixth.

”There’s no doubt that Ervin was pitching with his back against the wall, even though he had a two-run lead,” Scioscia said. ”Those guys have power all the way through their lineup, and they’re going to keep going. After we got those two early runs, they kept putting up zeros and kept pressuring us and got back into the game. We wanted to give Ervin a little bit of a comfort zone, but we weren’t able to do that.”

NOTES: The Angels hope ace Jered Weaver can end their slide when he takes the mound in the series finale on Thursday. Texas counters with 11-game winner Colby Lewis. … Hunter extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a sixth-inning single. … The Angels recalled Jerome Williams from the minors before the game, and the veteran right-hander made his first major league appearance since May 15, 2007, in the ninth inning, giving up two hits.

“It just makes a statement that we’re here to try to duplicate last year, that we can do it against anybody,” said David Murphy, who had the winning hit on opening day and got the Rangers going Sunday with a solo homer in the second.

Boston fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1996, a season that began 0-5. The Red Sox are off Monday, then will try to snap out of their funk starting Tuesday in Cleveland.

“We got outplayed all the way around,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “They hit better than us, they pitched better than us. Now we’ve got to regroup and get us a win so we can feel better about ourselves.”

Kinsler and Cruz came into the game as only the sixth set of teammates to homer in the first two games of a season. Kinsler also had become the first player to hit a leadoff homer in each of the first two games. Clay Buchholz (0-1) walked him on five pitches in the first inning to avoid any chance of making it three straight, then Kinsler delighted in going deep in his second plate appearance.

“It’s fun, man,” said Kinsler, in the lineup at designated hitter instead of second base. “We’re swinging the bats excellent right now.”

Cruz’s homer was notable, too, as it was just the second by a righthanded batter to reach the upper deck in right field at Rangers Ballpark.

For all the long balls – four solo homers on Texas’ first five hits – the star of the game was Harrison (1-0). The left-hander allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, tying his career high with eight strikeouts and walking two.

He was dominant from the start, striking out two batters in the first inning and five his first time through the lineup.

Carl Crawford, Boston’s $142 million offseason addition, was dropped from third in the lineup to seventh after starting the season 0 for 7 with four strikeouts. He went 2 for 4.

Rangers 5, Red Sox 1

Boston 000 000 100-1 5 0

Texas 011 010 11x-5 9 1

Boston AB   R   H   BI   BB   SO   Avg.   

 Ellsbury cf 4   0   0   0   0   1   .250   

Pedroia 2b 4   0   1   0   0   1   .273   

Ad.Gonzalez 1b 4   0   0   0   0   2   .385   

Youkilis 3b 3   1   0   0   1   2   .222   

Ortiz dh 4   0   2   0   0   0   .333   

Lowrie ss 4   0   0   0   0   0   .200   

Crawford lf 4   0   2   1   0   1   .182   

Saltalamacchia c 3   0   0   0   0   1   .000   

D.McDonald rf 2   0   0   0   1   1   .000   

Totals 32   1   5   1   2   9   

— ARLINGTON, Texas – Intentional or not, the Texas Rangers sent a loud message this opening weekend.

They can still hit with the best of them. And, even without Cliff Lee, their pitching is good enough to make the reigning AL champs among the teams to beat this season.

Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz became the first set of teammates to homer in each of the first three games in a season, and Matt Harrison pitched the Rangers to a 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday and a sweep of their season-opening series.

Coming off their first trip to the World Series, the Rangers really thumped this year’s AL favorites, hitting 11 home runs on the way to outscoring them 26-11 in the series. Texas comes away 3-0 for the second time in three years.

“It just makes a statement that we’re here to try to duplicate last year, that we can do it against anybody,” said David Murphy, who had the winning hit on opening day and got the Rangers going Sunday with a solo homer in the second inning. “We did it against a great team.”

Boston fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1996, a season that began 0-5. The Red Sox are off Monday, then will try to snap out of their funk starting Tuesday in Cleveland. They won’t get another crack at the Rangers until Aug. 22 at Fenway Park.

“We got outplayed all the way around,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “They hit better than us, they pitched better than us. Now we’ve got to regroup and get us a win so we can feel better about ourselves.”

Kinsler and Cruz came into the game as only the sixth set of teammates to homer in the first two games of a season. Kinsler also had become the first player to hit a leadoff homer in each of the first two games. Clay Buchholz (0-1) walked him on five pitches in the first inning to avoid any chance of making it three straight, then Kinsler delighted in going deep in his second plate appearance.

“It’s fun, man,” said Kinsler, in the lineup at designated hitter instead of second base. “We’re swinging the bats excellent right now.”

Cruz’s homer was notable, too, as it was just the second by a right-handed batter to reach the upper deck in right field at Rangers Ballpark.

“I didn’t think it was going to hit the upper deck, but I knew it was gone,” Cruz said.

For all the long balls – four solo homers on Texas’ first five hits – the star of the game was Harrison (1-0). The left-hander allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, tying his career high with eight strikeouts and walking two.

“I knew if I hit my spots and mixed the speeds up, I was going to be able to keep them under control,” he said. “I’m definitely going to take this one and look back on it next time out. … It was just a good mix of everything. They really couldn’t sit on anything. I was able to throw three or four pitches for strikes today.”

He was dominant from the start, striking out two batters in the first inning and five his first time through the lineup. Adrian Gonzalez came into the game 5-for-9 without a strikeout, and fanned in his first two at-bats – swinging, then looking.

When the Red Sox made contact during the first six innings, it often was slow rollers. A leadoff walk in the seventh showed Harrison was fading. He gave up a one-out RBI single to Carl Crawford – his first RBI since joining the Red Sox – then barely missed on a full-count pitch to No. 9 hitter Darnell McDonald, loading the bases with two outs and holding a 4-1 lead. He got out of it by striking out Jacoby Ellsbury, prompting smiles and fist bumps between manager Ron Washington and pitching coach Mike Maddux.

After Murphy homered in the second, Kinsler’s came in the third. Mike Napoli hit his second of the season in the fifth inning, then Cruz in the seventh. Texas’ only run not driven in by a homer was an RBI double by Michael Young in the eighth. Young, Murphy and Napoli all had two hits for Texas.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — All those predictions of greatness for the Boston Red Sox this season sure look silly now.

Of course, it’s also pretty silly to read too much into a single series — especially the opening weekend of the season.

Still, a 5-1 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sunday put the Red Sox in an 0-3 hole. The favorites to win the AL pennant were swept by the reigning league champions, and it was hardly ever close.

The Red Sox were outscored 26-11 in three games. They allowed 11 home runs, with each starting pitcher giving up at least a pair.

“I don’t think these guys missed a mistake in 27 innings,” said starter Clay Buchholz, who epitomized the tough luck by giving up just five hits Sunday, four of them home runs. “It’s a tough one but we’ll learn something from it.”

Boston fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1996, a season that began 0-5.

“We’re not very happy with the series, that’s an understatement,” manager Terry Francona said. “But I think there’s a difference between being aggravated over a series as opposed to sitting around and panicking. It would have been a lot more fun going on the flight after a win and feeling good about yourself.”

The team plane was headed to Cleveland. The Red Sox are off Monday, then have three games against the Indians. It could be a chance to get out some frustrations, or to find out whether they really are in trouble. They follow that series by heading home and playing the rival Yankees. They won’t get another crack at the Rangers until Aug. 22 at Fenway Park.

Texas got to Buchholz (0-1) with solo homers in the second, third, fifth and seventh innings. Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz each had one, becoming the first set of teammates to homer in each of the first three games in a season.

The Rangers also were led by seven strong innings from Matt Harrison (1-0). He was outstanding the first six innings, then got into a jam in the seventh, walking two and giving up an RBI single to Carl Crawford. Harrison got out of it by striking out Jacoby Ellsbury with the bases loaded, preserving a 4-1 lead.

“He has good stuff,” Francona said. “His fastball is ranging from 90-95 (mph) and the off speed made him good. He was pretty impressive. We had one shot and didn’t capitalize.”

There were a few bright spots for Boston, starting with Crawford going 2 for 4.

Boston’s $142 million offseason addition was dropped from third in the lineup to seventh after starting the season 0 for 7 with four strikeouts. He got his first hit of the season in the second inning with a line drive that landed just inside the third-base line.

“You could tell he was feeling good about himself,” Francona said.

David Ortiz went 2 for 4. In the ninth inning, he nearly joined the three-homer club but a shot to center field was caught on the warning track.

Jonathan Papelbon kept the game close by striking out the side with the bases loaded in the eighth.

Texas is 3-0 for the second time in three years.

Kinsler and Cruz came into the game as only the sixth set of teammates to homer in the first two games of a season. Kinsler also had become the first player to hit a leadoff homer in each of the first two games. Buchholz walked him in the first inning to avoid any chance of making it three straight, then Kinsler delighted in going deep in his second plate appearance.

Cruz’s homer was notable, too, as it was just the second by a right-handed batter to reach the upper deck in right field at Rangers Ballpark.

Harrison allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, tying his career high with eight strikeouts and walking two. He was dominant from the start, striking out two batters in the first inning and five his first time through the lineup. Adrian Gonzalez came into the game 5 for 9 without a strikeout, and fanned in his first two at-bats — swinging, then looking.

NOTES: Boston’s flop of a start in 1996 also began in Texas. … Former Boston outfielder David Murphy got the Rangers’ scoring started with a solo homer in the second. He improved to 6 for 9 in his career against Buchholz. … Last year, Buchholz was 8-3 with a 2.35 ERA in 13 starts following a Boston loss.

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