Reliever Manny Delcarmen pumps his fist after fanning the Rangers’ Gerald Laird in the seventh inning last night.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — The Rangers had more than their share of opportunities to open up a big lead last night.

And even though they had squandered several chances, Texas still was in the position to add to its one-run advantage in the eighth and put more pressure on Boston. The Sox even chipped in with some plays that could have helped.

The Rangers had Adam Melhuse at second with one out. A pitch from Mike Timlin was in the dirt, and it squirted under Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek. It only got a few feet away from Varitek, and he wasn’t able to locate it right away.

Melhuse, though, didn’t get a good jump. And, as a catcher, he doesn’t have great speed anyway. So he didn’t break for third. Most base runners easily would have made it.

As a result, he was only able to make it to third base when Ian Kinsler ripped the next pitch for a single to left. Left fielder Manny Ramirez made a terrible throw toward the plate, allowing Kinsler to take second on the play, putting runners at second and third with one out and the Rangers on top, 3-2.

But All-Star Michael Young was overanxious, popping up Timlin’s next pitch to first baseman Kevin Youkilis in foul territory. And Josh Hamilton was retired on a laser to right-center, with Jacoby Ellsbury making the grab.

The Rangers came to rue that bit of inefficiency, which boosted their left-on-base total to 12 — 8 in scoring position — when the Sox’ dynamic duo of David Ortiz and Ramirez produced three runs and a 5-3 Boston lead in the bottom of the inning.

Advice helped Lester

Call it late life. Or late finish.

Either way, that’s one ingredient that can help make a pitcher successful.

Not just on the fastball. But on every pitch in the repertoire. It’s that last bit of oomph as the pitch enters the hitting zone, causing it to look like it’s exploding as it nears the catcher’s mitt, a circumstance that produces swings and misses.

While Boston’s Jon Lester last night showed his customary ability to pitch out of trouble, minimizing damage, the left-hander did not have a great deal of late life on his pitches, especially early.

Of his first 52 pitches, the Rangers swung and missed only twice.

By then, the Rangers had a 3-2 lead with two on and one out in the third inning. Pitching coach John Farrell sauntered out and had a chat with Lester.

Whatever suggestion Farrell made paid immediate dividends. Over his next seven pitches, Texas hitters swung and missed three times, accounting for a pair of big strikeouts.

For the game, Lester made 107 pitches, and racked up only 10 swings and misses, with his former teammates, David Murphy, contributing 5 of the futile swings.

A lack of late life often means the opposition is likely to put the bat on the ball with regularity. The Rangers did just that, racking up 10 hits off Lester in his 6 1/3 innings. Not all the balls were well struck, though, and the fact Lester wasn’t walking as many batters as he usually does helped him stay out of the big inning because he did not have one 1-2-3 inning.

Farrell didn’t seem concerned that Lester wasn’t able to throw the ball past the Rangers.

“Jon’s progressing in stages,” said Farrell, who said the only advice he imparted to Lester in his third-inning visit was to keep the ball down in the strike zone.

“We want him to be able to command the fastball to both sides of the plate. Once he does that, the swings and misses will come when he gets a feel for his changeup,” said Farrell

Poor execution

Step and throw.

Those are the words that should go through the pitcher’s mind when he fields a ball.

All too often the pitcher will baby a throw to first, pushing it to the bag in a dart-like throw over the relatively short distance instead of stepping and throwing, following through as any fielder would.

Texas starter Jason Jennings didn’t pay heed to the step-and-throw mantra.

After fielding a bunt by Dustin Pedroia in the first, Jennings short-armed a throw to first, bouncing it into the dirt. First baseman Jason Botts was unable to scoop it. Pedroia reached on Jennings’ throwing error.

Francona shows confidence

The Red Sox didn’t seem particularly worried about scoring runs against Jennings, who couldn’t break the proverbial pane of glass with his fastball, topping out at 87 mph with little movement.

So when the Rangers, already ahead by a 3-2 score, had runners at second and third and one out in the third inning, Boston manager Terry Francona elected to have his infield play back, willing to give Texas another run on a groundout.

By playing his infield back, Francona was confident that at that point in the game, given Jennings’ mediocre stuff and escalating pitch count, not to mention the mediocre Texas bullpen, he wasn’t worried that a two-run deficit would be insurmountable.

The Sox escaped the jam better than they could have hoped as back-to-back whiffs by Lester kept it a 3-2 game.

One hit for David Murphy

In his first four at-bats, Murphy went 1 for 3 with a walk.

While that sounds rather ho-hum, it is made a bit more impressive because in each of those at-bats, Murphy fell behind in the count at 0 and 2, hardly a conducive count for a productive game.

Obviously, the pitcher has the upper hand when the count is 0 and 2.

Murphy, though, worked the count full against Lester in his first at-bat, and doubled to left-center. Lester got the better of Murphy in the next two at-bats, twice whiffing him.

In his fourth at-bat, facing Manny Delcarmen, Murphy worked his way back from an 0-and-2 hole to a nine-pitch walk.

skrasner@projo.com