Hamilton back with 2 hits

Eduardo Rodriguez threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings to become the youngest Red Sox starter to win in his major league debut on the road since 1967 as Boston beat the Rangers 5-1 to spoil Josh Hamilton’s first home game back in Texas on Thursday night.

Rodriguez, 22, already was the youngest Red Sox pitcher to make his MLB debut on the road since 21-year-old Roger Clemens in 1985. Billy Rohr was 21 when he won in his debut at the New York Yankees on April 14, 1967.

Rodriguez struck out seven and walked two, leaving the game with two runners on base in the eighth before Tommy Layne got Shin-Soo Choo on a called third strike.

Boston went ahead to stay when Mookie Betts had an RBI single in the fifth off Nick Martinez. Ramirez, who was the designated hitter with slumping slugger David Ortiz getting a night off, led off the sixth with his 11th homer of the season to make it 2-0.

Hamilton was 2-for-4, lining a double into the right-field corner on the first pitch he saw from Rodriguez in the second inning. He added an RBI single in the ninth, on another sharply hit ball to right, to end Boston’s shutout bid.

Back in Texas a month and a day after being re-acquired from the Angels, the 2010 AL MVP had gone 1-for-11 in his first three games after reuniting with the team Monday in Cleveland.

Martinez struck out five and walked two while scattering nine hits over seven innings. The righty allowed two runs.

Boston added three runs in the eighth, including Blake Swihart’s two-run single after two walks and a hit batsman the previous three batters.