Indians beat Texas and snap six game losing streak

CLEVELAND. OH - Jeanmar Gomez and three Cleveland relievers combined to beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 and the Indians snapped a six-game losing streak Saturday night.

The win was Cleveland's sixth in 34 games since July 27.

Texas entered with a four-game lead in the AL West over Oakland and lost for just the fifth time in 16 games.

Gomez worked 5 2-3 innings. Joe Smith, Esmil Rogers and Vinnie Pestano finished. Pestano allowed two hits over 1 1-3 innings for his first save.

Pestano has been Chris Perez's setup man for two years, but Cleveland's All-Star closer never warmed up.

Cleveland scored four runs in the first inning off Scott Feldman (6-11). The Indians are 42-24 when scoring four or more runs.

Carlos Santana had a two-run single before Casey Kotchman and Jack Hannahan each had RBI groundouts in the first inning.

David Murphy hit his 11th homer leading off the third for the Rangers' first hit. He walked to open the fifth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mitch Moreland to make it 4-2.

Adrian Beltre's 26th homer with two outs in the sixth made it 4-3 and finished Gomez.

Gomez allowed three runs and four hits in his first start since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday. The right-hander opened the season in Cleveland's rotation and was 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four April starts before struggling and being sent to Columbus on June 24.

Feldman settled down and pitched shutout ball for his last five innings, but fell to 0-5 in five starts since Aug. 5.

The Indians are just 12-36 since the All-Star break, with losing streaks of 11 and nine games before this six-game slide.

Elvis Andrus hit safely against Cleveland for the 28th straight game, setting a Rangers record for a hitting streak against one team. Ivan Rodriguez had hit in 27 straight against Tampa Bay in 1998-2000.

Andrus extended the streak in his final at-bat in strange fashion. He took a big cut at a pitch from Rogers and sent a weak dribbler that hugged the third base line. It rolled foul at one point, weaved back into fair territory and Andrus laughed as he reached first base when the ball stopped at the third base bag.

Gomez started in place of Roberto Hernandez, out with a sprained right ankle. Hernandez left a start Monday because of the injury and tweaked it during fielding practice on Thursday. He will wear a protective boot for at least a week.

Cleveland also was without All-Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, a late lineup scratch with a sore right wrist. Cabrera came in on defense in the ninth.

Notes: Russ Canzler, called up from Triple-A Columbus, went 2 for 4 as the DH in his Indians debut. ... Texas manager Ron Washington said he will try and get some playing time for prospect Jurickson Profar. When he does debut, the 19-year-old infielder will become the youngest Rangers player since C Ivan Rodriguez, also at age 19 in 1991. ... Washington wants to give Andrus some rest and used him as the DH. Andrus has missed only four games, starting 123 at shortstop. ... Cabrera has hit .103 over his past 11 games and .242 in the second half. ... Fans cheered as a member of the U.S. Navy Leapfrog team parachuted into the ballpark with the American flag during the national anthem.