If the Indians and Rangers see each other again this season, it will be under the bright October lights with much more on the line. For now, Texas will have to settle for finishing a successful season series with the Tribe with a 2-1 victory on Sunday at Globe Life Park.
With the win, the American League West-leading Rangers took three of four in this set to wrap up a 5-2 showing against the AL Central’s top team. In Sunday’s finale, lefty Derek Holland led the way with six solid innings, left fielder Carlos Gomez made a pair of key catches and both Ian Desmond and Jonathan Lucroy drove in runs.
“Up and down the lineup it was just a pitchers’ duel all day,” Lucroy said. “Not many mistakes were made on either side. This was a quality baseball game between two really, really good teams. We were fortunate to come out on top there. A little hectic in the ninth, but we scratched it out.”
Holland ended with five strikeouts and four hits scattered, picking up his sixth win of the year. The Rangers increased their lead in the AL West to 8 1/2 games, thanks to losses from the Astros and the Mariners. Cleveland maintained its 4 1/2-game lead in the AL Central because the Tigers lost as well.
The Indians received an encouraging start from righty Danny Salazar, who pushed some recent woes aside with a 10-strikeout showing against Texas. The starter logged 5 1/3 innings, holding the Rangers to two runs on five hits with two walks. Unfortunately for Salazar, Jason Kipnis’ RBI single in the sixth was the lone run of support from the Tribe’s struggling offense.
“As a team, we haven’t been winning a lot lately, but we’re going to get through this,” Salazar said. “We didn’t get to first place by coincidence. We were playing hard and we know we’re going to get through this as a team, too.”
Cleveland scored 16 total runs over its seven-game road trip through Oakland and Texas, but 12 of those came in Friday’s win over the Rangers. The Indians were held to one run or fewer in each of the other six games.
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