MORNING BRIEFING

It was well worth the price of admission

A wild game between Boston and the Texas Rangers on Tuesday gave spectators at Fenway Park their money’s worth -- and a roller-coaster ride for the Red Sox Nation.

Boston scored 10 runs in the first inning, only to lose that lead and have the game turn into a two-sided, nearly four-hour slugfest. Boston finally won, 19-17, on Kevin Youkilis’ home run in the eighth inning.

“After that first inning . . . everybody in all of Massachusetts thought the game was over,” Rangers Manager Ron Washington said.

In the other dugout, Manager Terry Francona said, “At some point you’re thinking about going for a field goal.”

Trivia time

Texas had 20 hits in the game with Boston. When was the last time the Rangers had 20 hits in a nine-inning game?

Pompom peril

Everyone now, give me a G-U-R-N-E-Y.

Cheerleading is more dangerous than any sport for high school girls and college women, says a study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury that was reported at LiveScience.com.

The study said cheerleading accounted for 65.1% of serious sports injuries among high school females over the last 25 years, and it was 66.7% in college.

“A major factor in this increase has been the change in cheerleading activity, which now involves gymnastic-type stunts,” said Frederick O. Mueller, the center’s director.

Pay dirt?

After a brief stint driving Formula One race cars in places such as Monaco and Australia, Scott Speed is working his way up through the minor leagues of U.S. stock-car racing.

Next stop: A one-mile dirt track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

The native of Manteca, Calif., is driving in the ARCA series, the equivalent of double-A baseball, in the hope of one day landing a ride in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series.

Speed, 25, is making the most of his current situation. He leads the ARCA point standings and hopes to earn his fifth series win Sunday.

But there’s one problem.

“I don’t know that I have ever seen a dirt track, much less drove on one,” he said.

Trivia answer

Two days earlier, when Texas beat Baltimore, 15-7.

And finally

Comedian Andy Borowitz, writing in Huffingtonpost.com, took aim at the controversy surrounding the ages of China’s female gymnasts:

“China’s hopes for winning more medals in women’s gymnastics were dashed when one of their leading gymnasts vanished down a bathtub drain on Tuesday.”

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james.peltz@latimes.com