Boston starter Josh Beckett allowed eight runs in five-plus innings.
Cody Ross, right, homered for the Red Sox in the third inning of Wednesday's slugfest against Texas at Fenway Park.BOSTON - For all the debate about Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine's personality, it is his decisions that raise eyebrows and questions on some days.
Boston's 10-9 loss to Texas Wednesday was one of those days.
The real culprit was Josh Beckett, who gave up eight runs, eight hits and three home runs in five-plus innings. His latest contribution of inadequacy came on a day his team desperately needed at least seven innings from him.
That left Valentine with a difficult choice. With his bullpen short-handed and overtaxed, he sent reliever Clayton Mortensen out for a fourth inning of work in the ninth.
When a walk and Josh Hamilton's single greeted him, it was evident that was one inning too many. With runners at the corners, Alfredo Aceves came in, but Adrian Beltre's sacrifice fly broke a 9-9 tie.
"I had Alfredo, and an inning of Andrew Miller after that. Everybody else in the bullpen was basically shut down ... it didn't work (with Mortensen),'' Valentine said.
Mortensen had pitched at least three innings on three occasions in May. He went five innings against Oakland July 2.
"I felt fine. I'm just upset I didn't get the job done,'' said Mortensen, who was called up Wednesday when Vicente Padilla went on the disabled list.
"If I got the call, I figured they needed innings. I take pride in that, but I just didn't execute.''
Had Beckett given a decent start, the Red Sox could have hidden their short bullpen. Instead, he left after giving up a two-run home run to .199-hitting Geovany Soto with no out in the sixth.
Beckett had served up homers to Mitch Moreland and Hamilton in the fifth. With his worn-out bullpen in mind, Valentine gambled on one more inning from Beckett in the sixth, as he did with Mortensen in the ninth.
"I thought I could squeak out one more with him. They had the bottom of the order coming up,'' Valentine said.
"I made a lot of pitches. Some I executed them, some I didn't - they fouled a lot of them back,'' Beckett said.
He left with an 8-5 deficit and a 4.97 ERA. Texas' three-run first lifted Beckett's first-inning ERA to 10.43.
Booed off the mound upon leaving with back spasms in his last start, Beckett was heckled again this time, purely on performance.
Mortensen's only mistake until the ninth came when Nelson Cruz homered in the seventh. Will Middlebrooks' three-run homer capped a four-run rally that made it 9-9 in the bottom half.
After Texas broke the tie in the ninth, the Red Sox put the tying run on second in the bottom half. With Mike Aviles and Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the bench, Valentine let Ryan Lavarnway hit.
The rookie struck out to end the game. He is 1-for-13 since joining the Red Sox.
That Boston's bullpen is so exhausted is bad enough. More disturbing is that the situation exists despite Monday's 9-2 win over Texas, when Aaron Cook went seven innings and Junichi Tazawa was the only reliever used.
Padilla is hurt. Mark Melancon had pitched three innings in three days, and Craig Breslow had pitched in five of the previous seven games.
With Franklin Morales expected to make a start this weekend, Valentine wanted to avoid him using, too.
On Boston radio Wednesday morning, Valentine predicted the Red Sox would grab a playoff spot. But a 4-6 homestand did not help for a team that has lost six of its last eight and is 55-57.
After the game, David Ortiz told media he hopes to come off the disabled list during the weekend series in Cleveland. He has been out since July 17 with an Achilles strain.