Minor, Rangers Cool Tribe Bats, Lose 4-2

Cleveland Indians v Texas Rangers

(Photo By: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

ARLINGTON -- Rangers starter Mike Minor limited the Indians bats to three hits and only allowed one run in his eight innings of work, to help the Rangers split the four game series with the Indians as they beat the Tribe 4-2 on Thursday afternoon.

The scoring started for the Rangers when Elvis Andrus had a RBI triple, after a Danny Santana double to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. After Andrus stole third, he scored on a wild pitch by Shane Bieber, to give the Rangers an early 2-0 lead. The Indians pulled within one in the 6th, after Jordan Luplow hit a RBI single, scoring Oscar Mercado, who had a two-out single earlier in the inning.

The scoring continued for the Rangers in the bottom of the eighth, when Danny Santana hit a solo homer to right, and then Elvis Andrus went back to back with a solo homer to left, to put the Rangers up for good at 4-1. Carlos Santana hit his own solo homer in the ninth to make it 4-2, but it was too little to late for the Indians.

On the pitching side of things, Mike Minor pitched an outstanding game going eight innings, only allowing one run and three hits, while striking out four to earn his seventh win of the season for the Rangers. Shawn Kelly worked the ninth for the Rangers, and struggled a bit allowing two hits and one run, but did earn his ninth save of the season.

For the Indians, Shane Bieber pitched another solid outing throwing six strong innings, allowing five hits and only two runs, walking no one, and striking out eight. Bieber took the loss, his record on the year now sits at 6-3, with a 3.86 ERA. In relief of Bieber, Tyler Clippard pitched the seventh inning allowing one hit, no runs, and striking out one. A.J. Cole struggled in his 1/3 inning of work, has he allowed back to back homers in the eighth. Closer Brad Hand came in to finish the eighth inning, his first outing in almost a week, striking out one.

The Indians fall to 39-35 on the season, while the Rangers improve to 40-35.

Next up for the Indians, they return to Progressive Field on Friday night, to start a 3-game series with the Detroit Tigers as Trevor Bauer (5-6, 3.41 ERA) takes the hill for the first time since his complete game shutout against the Tigers, this past Sunday. On the mound for the Tigers will be Matt Boyd (5-5, 3.35 ERA), in his last outing he gave up four runs and six hits in four innings of work against the Royals. First pitch is at 7:10


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