BOSTON — Drew Pomeranz pitched six strong innings and tied his career high with 11 strikeouts, and Boston pitchers combined to tie a major-league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game Thursday night as the Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 6-2.

Xander Bogaerts and Deven Marrero hit their first home runs of the season, helping Boston to its fourth straight win.

Pomeranz (4-3) made it as far as six innings for the third time this season and beat Texas for the first time in nine career outings.

Elvis Andrus homered and Nomar Mazara had two hits and an RBI for Texas, which has lost 4 of 5 overall and 15 of 21 on the road.

Andrew Benintendi and Mitch Moreland had RBI singles in the first inning as Boston got to Rangers starter Nick Martinez (1-3) early.

Bogaerts hit a two-run homer in the third to put Boston ahead 4-0. Despite finishing with 21 home runs last year, Bogaerts needed 46 games to connect for the first time this season.

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Red Sox pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts, tying the record held by Roger Clemens – who did it twice in 1986 and 1996 – Kerry Wood in 1998 and Max Scherzer last season. Reliever Craig Kimbrel had four strikeouts in the ninth when the first batter reached on a wild pitch strike three.

Mike Napoli struck out four times, and Pete Kozma and Andrus went down three times each. Every Ranger starter struck out at least once as they finished one shy of the club record.

Marrero homered in the eighth off Alex Claudio.

Martinez gave up four runs in five innings and is winless in four starts against Boston with a 6.46 ERA.

Andrus cut Boston’s lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning with his homer, snapping an 0-for-9 drought.

Moreland tied his career high by driving in at least one run for the sixth straight game and extended his hitting streak to seven games, batting .393 in that stretch.

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Boston swept Texas for the first time at Fenway Park since 2008. Since 2009, Texas has the best winning percentage at Fenway Park in the major leagues at .600.

NOTES: Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia was removed from the game after five innings for precautionary reasons because of left knee pain. He is listed as day to day. … Third baseman Pablo Sandoval is 3 for 13 in four rehab games.

A painting of former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, valued at $1,000, was recovered by police in Quincy, Massachusetts, after it was stolen from the Thomas Crane library earlier this month.

Dana Bognar, a 37-year-old homeless man, was arrested Wednesday and charged with larceny from a building and conspiracy to commit larceny.

The portrait of “Big Papi” went missing sometime after May 7 from an ongoing art exhibit at the library and was reported stolen to police on May 20. The artwork was painted by local artist Edwina Caci.

On Wednesday, a library security officer found video footage of Bognar removing the painting. He also noticed that the man had just entered the building and called the police.

Members of the Anti-Crime Unit found Bognar a short time later and questioned him.


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