Rangers salvage game against Indians

Sep 3, 2006, 21:35 GMT

Arlington, TX - Mark Teixeira's three-run homer coupled with the stellar pitching of Kevin Millwood lifted the Texas Rangers past the Cleveland Indians, 5-2, in the finale of a three-game set at Ameriquest Field.

The Rangers, who had lost eight of 12 coming in and were in danger of being swept by the Indians, snapped Cleveland's five game winning streak.

Teixeira finished 2-for-4, including his 39th double of the season.

Millwood (14-9), coming off a complete-game win against Baltimore last Tuesday, hurled eight innings of one-run ball, allowing only two hits while striking out a season-high 10 and walking a batter.

Paul Byrd (9-7), who was unbeaten in his previous nine outings, pitched 6 1/3 innings, yielding four runs on 10 hits and one strikeout in the loss.

Trailing 1-0 in the seventh, the Rangers finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh, scoring five runs to take the lead.

Three straight singles by Ian Kinsler, Gerald Laird and Nelson Cruz loaded the bases for Gary Matthews Jr., who grounded out to score Kinsler. Michael Young's single then plated Laird to give Texas their first lead of the game.

After reliever Fernando Cabrera replaced Byrd, Teixeira belted a three- run homer to right, giving the Rangers a 5-1 advantage.

The Indians threatened in the ninth when reliever C.J. Wilson gave up a RBI single to Victor Martinez, but with two outs, Akinori Otsuka replaced Wilson and got Kevin Kouzmanoff to ground out, ending the game.

Otsuka notched his 30th save of the season.

Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Kouzmanoff got the first hit off of Millwood, a two-out solo home run.

Game Notes

Prior to the game, Texas recalled pitcher John Rheinecker from Triple-A Oklahoma, purchased the contract of catcher Miguel Ojeda and transferred outfielder Brad Wilkerson to the 60-day disabled list.

Byrd's loss is his first since the All-Star Break and drops to 2-3 lifetime against the Rangers.

Texas improved to 19-11 against the Indians since the start of the 2003 campaign.

© 2006 The Sports Network