Legging it home in the eighth inning, Kevin Youkilis ties up yesterday’s game at 4-4. Looking on is Texas pitcher Akinori Otsuka.

MCT / Jeffery Washington Jeffery Washington

ARLINGTON, Texas — At the time, it looked like a highlight-reel catch. In retrospect, Coco Crisp’s diving grab to take extra bases away from Frank Catalanotto in the seventh inning was much, much more.

Call it a game-saver.

At the time, the Sox were trailing, 4-3, and the Texas Rangers had runners at first and second. Catalanotto drilled a pitch to center. Crisp, who had been shaded over toward left field, broke quickly, made up some ground, then fully extended himself to snare the ball as he leaped in mid-air.

With two outs, had Crisp not made the catch, both baserunners would have scored easily and Catalanotto would have had a double, or, if the ball got away, perhaps a triple.

“That was a great catch with the game on the line,” said manager Terry Francona.

“The key (to the win) was Coco’s play,” said Joel Pineiro, on the mound at the time. “That picked us up and seemed to give us all the momentum.”

Indeed, in the top of the next inning, the Sox regained the lead.

The catch may have been Crisp’s best since his spectacular play on David Wright of the Mets last June at Fenway.

More of same from Youkilis

Kevin Youkilis saw two different streaks continue yesterday.

Youkilis reached on an infield single when Michael Young couldn’t corral his low liner to short in the third inning, giving Youkilis a 19-game hitting streak.

It’s the second-longest active streak in the game, behind only Ichiro Suzuki’s current 20-game streak.

That wasn’t the only hit of the afternoon for Youkilis, who came into yesterday with six straight multi-hit games. He grounded out in the first, hit a fly ball to the warning track in left in the fifth, but in his final at-bat, singled through the shortstop hole, extending his streak to seven games with more than one hit.

Nixon, Indians in town

Former Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon makes his return to Fenway tonight in the uniform of the Cleveland Indians.

Nixon, the No. 1 pick of the Red Sox in 1993, played eight full seasons and parts of two others with the Sox before leaving via free agency last winter.

Francona, who managed Nixon for the outfielder’s final three seasons in Boston, recalled him fondly yesterday.

“He’ll run through a wall,” said Francona, “and we all respect that. He was an easy guy to like, a pretty neat guy. He always got down and dirty. He played the game real hard and gave you everything he had. You appreciate good players like that.”

Julian being Julian

Eccentric as ever, Julian Tavarez surprised his own infielders in the fourth inning.

With one out, Tavarez fielded a comebacker from Catalanotto. But instead of lobbing a throw to Youkilis, he rolled it on the ground, bocce-style, to record the putout.

After getting the out, Youkilis had to put his glove over his face to hide his laughter.

“I just relax when I’m out there,” said Tavarez, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t even think about it.”

“I’m telling you,” cracked Francona, “we’re not going to install that play next spring training.”

Rare miss for Ortiz

David Ortiz was out of the starting lineup for just the second time this season. Francona said the slugger’s hamstrings had tightened up in recent days. Ortiz has also been suffering from some dehydration and flu-like symptoms.

With Ortiz sidelined, Youkilis hit third in the batting order. Youkilis has now hit second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth this season.

Eric Hinske was the choice at DH, his first start of the season in that spot.

5 is the magic number

The Red Sox have won their last 33 games in which they have scored five or more runs, the longest such streak in the big leagues and the franchise’s longest streak in the last 60 years. The Sox are 27-0 in those games this year after winning their last seven in 2006. Their last loss when scoring five or more runs came on Sept. 16, when they were beaten, 7-5, by the Yankees.

Conversely, the Rangers are now 5-29 when they score fewer than seven runs.

smcadam@projo.com