Napoli’s HR in ninth not enough to save Rangers

He sends game to extra innings, but Texas falls in 11th.

Dustin Pedroia wasn’t given the opportunity to drive in another run for the Boston Red Sox in the 11th inning. Andrew Benintendi took care of that.

Benintendi blooped a tworun single over a drawn-in infield after Pedroia was i ntention a lly walked to load the bases, and the Red Sox beat Texas 7-5 Monday night for their AL-best fifth straight victory.

“Trying to get something to the outfield. Basically anything but a ground ball,” said Benintendi, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in

ninth. “Once Mookie (Betts) hit that double, I figured that’s what they’d do.”

Boston ne e ded extra innings after Mike Napoli led off the Rangers’ ninth with a homer against AllStar closer Craig Kimbrel, who had blown only one of his previous 24 save opportunities.

After Ernesto Frieri (0-1) gave up a one-out walk in the 11th to No. 9 hitter TzuWei Lin and the double by Betts — who will now be an outfield starter in the All- Star Game — the Rangers took the bat out of the hands of Pedroia, who already had hits and four RBIs, and

their infielders in. Benintendi’s ball landed just beyond the infield dirt in short left.

“The likelihood of turning a double play there is very slim,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Obviously you’re in a tough situation. I don’t know that there’s anything in the book that you say play for a bloop.”

Heath Hembree (1-2), the sixth Boston pitcher, retired all six batters he faced over the last two innings.

Pedroia’s second tworun single capped a tie- breaking sixth, when the AL East-leading Red Sox scored three unearned runs. The bases were loaded when Pedroia got to the plate, but just-entered reliever Tony Barnette threw a wild pitch before Pedroia lined a two-out shot to center for a 5-2 lead.

Texas then scored in three consecutive at-bats, the last when Napoli homered for the third time in four games. His .193 batting average is the lowest among AL qualifiers, but 17 of his 46 hits are homers.

Carlos Gomez hit his 11th homer in the Texas seventh, and Shin-Soo Choo led off the eighth with a double before scoring on Nomar Mazara’s single.

The Red Sox had also loaded the bases with two outs in the second, part of 36 pitches by Texas starter Martin Perez that inning, to set up Pedroia’s first tworun single that put them ahead 2-1.

Ro u gned Odor’s 15th home run for Texas was a solo homer in the fourth tied the game.