Rangers Split Last Two Games, Win Series 2-1 Against Indians

Pitching remains a strong point for Texas as they've now won two straight series. Colby Lewis (above) struck out 10-batters and won his second straight decision Wednesday night in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

As the world turns, and a more exciting sport is preparing for it's climactic finish, the Texas Rangers (5-4) are playing games number eight and nine of 162. Why read this article then, you ask? Well because you love baseball and your not writing this crap, so you are free to divide your time between two sports. Enjoy it buddy!

(For those who don't like baseball, just treat this like a Meg-episode on Family Guy and look over some Mavericks posts.)

Wednesday:

The Rangers' starters continue to pitch extremely well early-on in the season.
Colby Lewis went 5 and 1/3 innings, only only two runs and struck out 10 batters - tying C.J. Wilson for the most in a game this season.

Nelson Cruz hit yet-another home run, deep to left on a 2-1 pitch in the top of the third. Julio Borbon busted out of an early-season slump, going 2-4 from the plate for two RBI and also stealing a base. Josh Hamilton continued his recent surge, going 3-4 from the plate for an RBI. Hamilton is now batting .308 this season.

Rangers' relievers combined to pitch four innings of shutout baseball. Neftali Felix closed it out, pitching 1 and 1/3 innings en route to his second save of the season.

Texas 6 Cleveland 2

Thursday:

Texas scored first in this game, a two-run shot by Michael Young in the fourth inning, but another late-game letdown (this time not by the bullpen) sealed the Rangers' fate.

Indians' pitcher David Huff settled down after he allowed single by Elvis Andrus and subsequent homer from Young in the fourth. For the game Huff pitched nine strong innings, allowing only two runs and retired 12 of the last 13 Rangers' batters, keeping Cleveland within striking distance.

"It was his game," Indians Manager Manny Acta said. "He was never in trouble, other than the two-run homer. He was in complete control the whole time, so we didn't see any reason to go to the bullpen. That was a message to him."

Rangers pitcher Matt Harrison pitched just as well as Huff, but some Rangers' fielding miscues made the home-run he allowed a killer. A throwing error by Young and a bobble by Andrus put runners on first and second with no outs in the eighth inning with Shin-Soo Choo coming to the plate. Choo belted one to center field that bounced off the top of the wall (similar to Young's home-run) and into the stands as Cleveland too their first lead of the ballgame at 3-2.

"Choo's been a thorn in our side all series and he finally got a big one," Manager Ron Washington said. "A real big one."

Choo went had seven hits in 11 at-bats for the series with two home-runs and four RBI.

Cleveland 3 Texas 2

What's Next:

Texas travels to New York to take on the Yankees in stop number two of their three series road-trip.

The Yankees are 5-3 this season, half-a-game out of first in the American League East.

The series starts Friday at 6:05 p.m.

News and Notes:

• Texas is a half-a-game out of first place in the American League West behind the Oakland Athletics.
• Nelson Cruz is first in Major League Baseball in home-runs with six.
• The Texas Rangers have allowed 29 runs this season, tied for the lowest in the Majors with the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)