The Boston Red Sox won a wild one with the Texas Rangers last night but suffered a loss at the same time.  Third baseman Mike Lowell suffered a right oblique muscle injury during a seventh inning at-bat in Tuesday’s 19-17 win.  On Wednesday, the team placed Lowell on the 15-day disabled list and recalled right-handed pitcher David Pauley from Triple-A Pawtucket to take his roster spot.

Lowell was struggling with an average below .200 over the last 29 games and the Red Sox are likely to move Kevin Youkilis to third base and put Sean Casey at first.

Pauley was 13-4 with a 3.32 ERA at Pawtucket and during an earlier call-up gave up five runs in 4 1/3 innings in one appearance.

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The oft-injured Joel Zumaya headed back to the 15-day disabled list for the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.  Zumaya’s sore right shoulder that forced him out of Tuesday night’s game landed Zumaya on the DL.

Zumaya has been less than stellar — he blew his fourth save in 10 appearances on Tuesday to the Blue Jays allowing two runs on two hits and three walks. 

Zumaya was replaced on the 25-man roster by reliever Francis Beltran from Triple-A Toledo.

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The Milwaukee Brewers placed infielder Russell Branyan on the 15-day disabled list with a ribcage injury.  The team brought up outfielder Laynce Nix from Triple-A Nashville to fill his roster spot and add depth as outfielder Ryan Braun continues to miss time with a back and ribcage injury of his own.

Nix, 27, hit .284 with 23 home runs and 60 RBI at Nashville and .364 in his last 20 games.

…Three more minor league players have been suspended 50 games under Minor League Baseballs drug program. Kansas City Royals farm hand Victor Jorge, who was playing in the Appy league and two from the Arizona organization who were playing in the Dominican Summer League (Winfild De La Rosa and Ramon Mariano).

This makes 23 50 game drug violation suspensions since July 25th. All but two of those 23 have been out of the Dominican and Venezuelan summer Leagues. This is the first year that suspensions have been announced for those two leagues. Prior years weren’t reported due to legal issues.

…If it wasn’t enough that the Tampa Bay Rays have lost Evan Longoria to injury - now Outfielder Carl Crawford will have surgery on his injured right hand that will most likely put him out of action for the remainder of the season. Though it should be noted that Longoria could return before the end of the regular season. He currently leads the Rays in home runs and RBI’s.

…Everyone’s second favorite Steinbrenner, Hank says that injuries are the reason the Yankees have a slim chance to make the playoffs this season. He goes on to add that they will be looking to sign a front line starting pitcher over the winter.

“We’re going to win it next year,” he said. “If we need to add a top veteran pitcher, we’ll do that. We’ll do whatever we need to do. Next year we’ll be extremely dangerous.”

…Team USA scored 3 runs in the final frame, but it wasn’t enough to beat South Korea. Not the greatest way to open the Olympics for Team USA in Baseball.

…George King of the New York Post is reporting that Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain will resume throwing on Friday in front of Manager Joe Girardi, trainers and others. Chamberlain has been out since August 4th when he was removed with a ‘tight shoulder’.

…It didn’t take long for Manny to have one of his “Manny being Manny” moments in Dodger Blue. This happened on Monday night - they had to hold up the game while someone retrieved Manny from the bathroom.

“I was sitting there when Manny was forced at the plate, and then I realized that I didn’t shake Manny’s hand for getting the hit. So he went by me and I put my fist out,” Torre said. “He was probably 8 feet away, and he put his fist out and was starting to come back. I said, ‘No, don’t worry about it,’” and he thought I meant, go inside and we’ll pick you up in the ninth.”

[snip..]

“I just went to the bathroom,” Ramirez said with a chuckle after the Dodgers’ 8-6 victory. “All the guys said, ‘Hey, we play nine in here.’”

GOOD PITCHING, STOPS GOOD HITTING, BUT BAD PITCHING…
Bad pitching produces last night’s embarrassing loss for Texas and only a slightly less embarrassing win for the BoSox. In Boston’s 19-17 triumph over Texas, the two teams combined to tie a 58-year-old record for most runs scored in an American League contest, last done when the Red Sox defeated the Philadelphia Athletics, 22-14, on June 29, 1950. In last nights torturous three-hour, 58-minute slugfest, the Red Sox jumped to a 10-0 lead in the 1st, the 30th time they had reached double figures in an inning in franchise history, extending their major league record. Texas starter Scott Feldman, who allowed the franchise-record 10 runs but became the first big league pitcher to give up at least 12 runs in a game without taking the loss since Gene Packard of the St. Louis Cardinals allowed 12, but won the game over the Philadelphia Phillies, 16-12, on Aug. 3, 1918.

The Rangers scored a season-high 17 runs and in the process became the second team this season to score 17 runs and lose. Colorado beat Florida, 18-17, on July 4. In their last 18 games, the Rangers who scored 15 on Sunday in a 15-7 win at Baltimore, are now 8-1 when they’ve scored eight runs or more and 1-8 when scoring less than eight runs. This was the second time in franchise history they’ve scored 15 or more in back-to-back contests. They also did it on July 31-Aug. 1, 2002.

Continuing, David Ortiz became the fourth Red Sox player in history to hit two homers in an inning, driving in six in the 1st, tying the AL mark for RBI in an inning, last accomplished by Seattle’s Raul Ibanez on August 4. Ortiz was the first Sox player to do it since Carlos Quintana on July 30, 1991. Tom McBride is the only other Red Sox player with six RBI in a frame, doing it against Washington on Aug. 4, 1945. It marked the first time a Red Sox player went deep twice in the same inning since Nomar Garciaparra in 2002. It was the 54th time in MLB history that a player had two homers in an inning. The Cubs’ Jim Edmonds accomplished the feat most recently against the White Sox on June 21, 2008. Previous BoSoxers who did it were Ellis Burks did it in the 4th on Aug. 27, 1990, against Cleveland, and Bill Regan also in the 4th on June 16, 1928, against Chicago.

Dustin Pedroia tied a career high with a five-hit game, the first by a Red Sox player this year. Kevin Youkilis also hit a pair of homers including the game winner in the 8th.

The trivia question for the ages will be, “What did 28-year old Red Sox knuckleballer Charlie Zink do in his major league debut?” The answer will be, Unable to hold a 10-0 lead, Zink gave up 8 runs on 11 hits with one walk and one strikeout in 4 1/3 innings and was optioned back to Triple-A Pawtucket following the game.

IN OTHER ACTION…
Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run and Xavier Nady hit a two-run homer, his sixth blast since joining the Yankees in July, both in the top of the 12th inning giving the struggling Yankees a 9-6 victory over the Twins. Edwar Ramirez recorded his first save of the year, preserving the win for Jose Veras who threw after two perfect innings after Mariano Rivera’s first blown save of the season.

The loss cost the Twins their hold on first place in the American League Central as they fell a half-game behind the White Sox, the fifth straight day there has been a different leader in the division. The White Sox Javier Vazquez shut out Kansas City on five hits, striking out 10 and walking one in eight innings, in a 9-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field. Vazquez (9-10) in his last eight starts had been 1-5 with a 5.88 ERA and picked up his first home victory since June 17 against Pittsburgh.

Back in the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the horrid Oakland A’s, 2-1. Scott Kazmir took his sixth loss of the season even though he allowed just two runs (a two-run homer by Bobby Crosby) on two hits in five innings.

Jeff Suppan pitched eight strong innings to lead the Brewers to their seventh straight victory, 5-2 over the San Diego Padres. The Brewers have now allowed just seven runs in their past four games combined. Prince Fielder hit his 27th homer, a three-run shot, and Cameron added a solo homer as the Brewers pulled within three games of first-place Chicago in the NL Central. Milwaukee (69-51) moved a season-high 18 games over .500.

The horrendous New York Mets bullpen finally saved one for Johan Santana, as the Mets topped the Washington Nationals, 4-3 victory to extend the Nats losing streak to six games. Six times this season New York’s bullpen has cost Santana (10-7) a potential win. Santana hasn’t lost since June 28.

Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run homer and Florida pitchers held the Cardinals scoreless over the last eight innings as the Marlins rallied for a 4-3 victory. Cards starter Kyle Lohse took the loss, falling to 9-1 in night games this season. In day games, he is 4-4. Marlins starter Chris Volstad got his first win at home this season, improving to 1-2. On the road, he is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA. The Marlins’ rally from a three-run deficit matched their biggest comeback of the season. It was the fourth time this year that they fought back from a three runs down.

Randy Johnson reached 10 wins for the 16th time in his career and improved to 6-1 with a 1.77 ERA over his last seven starts as Arizona topped Colorado, 4-2. The D-backs are 9-1 against the Rockies this season. Adam Dunn went 1-for-3 with a walk in his Arizona debut and Chad Tracy homered for Arizona, which has won two straight.

WALKOFF
Andre Ethier singled home the winning run with one out in the 9th and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3. Casey Blake had two RBIs for Los Angeles, while Chase Utley hit his 30th homer for the Phillies. The victory was Torre’s 2,127th in the regular season, breaking a tie with Joe McCarthy for seventh place on the career list. Hong-Chih Kuo (4-2) pitched two hitless innings for the win. Phils’ left fielder Pat Burrell made his first error since Sept. 22 last year, snapping a 122-game streak without one.

The Chicago Cubs-Atlanta Braves game scheduled for last night was postponed by rain.

DID YOU KNOW?
Last night, Mets shortstop Jose Reyes reached 40 stolen bases for the fourth straight year.

WHEELING AND DEALING
The Red Sox helped bolster their ailing starting rotation on Tuesday by dealing for Indians right-hander Paul Byrd. Byrd, a 13-year veteran who spent the last three seasons in Cleveland, comes to Boston for a player to be named later or cash. He’s 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break. He will start Friday in place of Clay Buchholz. He’s 7-10 with a 4.53 ERA for the Indians, who are last place in the AL Central. He hasn’t started less than 31 games in a season since 2004 with Atlanta.

Byrd made his Major League debut in 1995, spent time with the Mets, Braves, Phillies, Royals, Angels before his time with the Indians. He’s 104-91 lifetime with a 4.37 ERA. He will start for the Sox Friday night against Roy Halladay of the Jays.

The Detroit Tigers signed free-agent pitcher Freddy Garcia to a minor league contract on Tuesday that runs through the rest of this season. Garcia, 33, is coming off right shoulder surgery. He is a career 117-76 with a 4.07 ERA in nine seasons with the Mariners, White Sox, and Phillies. Garcia’s agent has said that he should be ready to pitch in the majors by September, but he will have to prove himself in the minors before he gets that chance. Garcia, said in a conference call that he signed with the Tigers because “you want to be somewhere they want you … they’ve got good players and good fans.”

The Cincinnati Reds called up outfielder Chris Dickerson from triple-A Louisville to fill Adam Dunn’s spot on the roster. The 26-year-old Dickerson was hitting .287 with 11 home runs, 53 RBIs and 26 stolen bases for Louisville. He made his major league debut last night, batting leadoff and playing left field in the Reds 5-1 win against Pittsburgh. Dickerson walked in first major league at-bat and stole second. Later in the game he doubled for his first major league hit.

MLB.com reported Tuesday that RHP Micah Owings will likely be one of the two players to be named in exchange for Dunn. Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes declined to comment on the report.

Dontrelle Willis, was promoted from Single-A Lakeland to Triple-A Toledo.

Gary Sheffield was among several Tigers placed on waivers by the club yesterday, according to ESPN.com. Other teams would have until Thursday afternoon to place a claim on Sheffield, who has one year remaining on his contract (at $14 million) beyond this season. If he clears waivers, he could be traded to any of the other 29 teams. If he’s claimed, the Tigers then would have 48 hours to deal him to the club that claims him.

MOVIN’ ON?
Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that people in high places in baseball are starting to wonder about whether this could be the last season together for Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and president/CEO Larry Lucchino. Hey says that one logical ending would have Lucchino joining owner Frank McCort and a host of former Bostonians in Los Angeles. “It’s all speculation now, but it’s not all that farfetched,” he writes.

He continues by pointing out that while Epstein’s contract is up at the end of this season, Theo is “beloved” by owner John Henry and unlike 2005, if anyone leaves this time it’s Lucchino who’s the one more likely to go.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide. Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports or from your favorite bookstore.