Kevin Youkilis is congratulated in Boston’s dugout after scoring in the second inning last night.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — If one pitch isn’t working for you, try another. If the others aren’t effective, either, warm up the showers.

Such was the synopsis of Tommy Hunter’s abbreviated outing for the pitching-starved, fundamentally weak Rangers last night at Fenway Park.

The rookie right-hander’s initial strategy was to throw fastballs.

Now, it’s one thing if your fastball is in the 95-97 mph range with movement on a consistent basis. If it is and you want to throw one fastball after another you still can succeed even if the batters know what’s coming.

But when your fastball is 90-92, as is Hunter’s, you might want to consider mixing in a few other pitches if only to let the hitters that you do indeed have other pitches.

Hunter, though, kept firing fastballs in only the third start of his big-league career. His first time through the Red Sox order, Hunter threw 34 pitches –– 30 of which were fastballs. The Sox were sitting on the heater, drilling it when Hunter put it in the strike zone. Kevin Youkilis, for instance, knew he’d get a 3-and-1 cookie and he did, ripping it to left for a single.

By the time Boston had sent nine men to the plate against Hunter, the Red Sox were ahead, 2-0, and had the bases loaded with one out.

So when the order turned around, Hunter and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia decided to try out his other pitches, namely a curveball and changeup. Hunter threw a total of eight pitches to the next three batters, including two curveballs and two changeups.

He had even less success. The last of those pitches was an 86-mph changeup to David Ortiz that the Red Sox designated hitter laced into the first row of seats in the right-field corner for a three-run homer that made it a 7-0 Boston bulge.

Youkilis lofted a curveball off the wall for a double and Jason Bay finished off a six-pitch, all-fastball at-bat with a laser-like RBI single off the glove of left fielder Frank Catalanotto.

And that was it for Hunter, who trudged off to the showers after a 40-pitch horror show in the inning, ultimately tagged for nine runs on seven hits.

A call for replay

In one item of baseball news yesterday, the majors moved closer to adopting instant replay for home runs.

Such technology would have been trotted out last night at Fenway had it already been operable.

Ortiz’s homer hit a first-row fan reaching for the ball as it sizzled toward the seats. The fan made contact with the ball. Had he reached over the wall? Should it have been ruled a ground-rule double?

That was the case made by Texas manager Ron Washington, who discussed it with first-base umpire Kerwin Danley, who had called it a homer. Danley stood by his call, and it would have been backed up by instant replay, which showed the ball hitting the fan, who clearly had not reached over the fence.

Wayward strategy

Clearly, the Rangers had thoroughly scouted the Red Sox. They knew they had better watch Ortiz, that noted speedster, when he got on base. After all, the lumbering DH did pick up a stolen base on the last homestand, bringing his season total to one and his career total to 10.

So when Ortiz led off the fourth with a walk, Texas first baseman Chris Davis was holding him on. The score at the time? Boston 9, Texas 0.

It made no sense whatsoever to hold him on in the first place. And it made even less sense when it got to be two outs and a left-handed hitter at the plate. Davis should have been playing behind Ortiz.

While the defensive strategy didn’t cost the Rangers, it was symptomatic of how poorly Texas played mentally and physically in getting swept in the series.

Varitek gets his man

The strategy seemed sound at the time, given the fact Ian Kinsler was 26-for-27 in stolen-base attempts.

So even though Daisuke Matsuzaka was struggling with his control early, Kinsler, who had drawn a leadoff walk, attempted to steal second on a 1-and-0 pitch to the next batter, Catalanotto.

The pitch was out of the strike zone, and Catalanotto took it for ball two. The throw from catcher Jason Varitek to shortstop Alex Cora was right on the money, in the path of the sliding Kinsler, who was out at second, gunned down for only the second time in 28 tries.

That out seemed to settle down Matsuzaka, at least for the time being. Dice-K retired Catalanotto (grounder) and Michael Young (whiff), ending the inning.

skrasner@projo.com