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 Texas designated hitter Michael Choice hit the go-ahead solo home
run in the bottom of the seventh as the Rangers snapped the
Cleveland Indians' six-game winning streak 6-4 on Friday at Globe
Life Park.
Darvish scattered nine Indians hits while striking out eight. He
gave up four runs and did not return to the game after getting out
of the top of the seventh in a 4-4 tie. But Choice took care of him
in the bottom half of that inning.
"I wasn't really focused on whether or not Yu was going to come back
out," Choice said. "I was just focused on getting a good pitch and
being aggressive at the plate. It was a fastball about middle of the
way."
Indians starter Trevor Bauer battled Darvish as both players
overcame rough patches to work past the sixth inning. Bauer gave up
four runs on five hits and two walks. He left with a no-decision as
the game was tied 4-4 with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Two
batters after Bauer left, Cleveland reliever Marc Rzepczynski gave
up Choice's homer.
"You can yell and scream or you can choose to believe in your guys,"
Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. "He'll be fine."
Texas added a run in the bottom of the eighth when shortstop Elvis
Andrus scored on an Adrian Beltre sacrifice fly to center. Indians
center fielder Michael Bourn caught Beltre's fly out in shallow
center and made an on-target throw, but Andrus slid around Cleveland
catcher Yan Gomes' tag.
It was the second time in the game that the Rangers narrowly beat a
Gomes tag on what proved to be crucial plays at the plate. But
Francona was not in the mood to talk about Gomes' execution after
neither play resulted in outs for the Indians.
"They beat 'em," Francona said. "They were close plays. I don't know
what to tell you."
Andrus singled with one out in the eighth to extend his hitting
streak to all 38 games of his career against Cleveland. The hit came
immediately after Andrus made a stellar play in the field in the top
of the eighth. He fielded a hard grounder from Indians third baseman
Mike Aviles with designated hitter Carlos Santana moving on the
pitch. Andrus stepped on second to force out Santana, then stopped
his throw, recovered from a collision with Santana and threw to
first in time to get Aviles and end the inning.
Center fielder Leonys Martin drove in the first run of the Rangers'
four-run second inning with a sacrifice fly.
Texas catcher Chris Gimenez slid just under the tag of Gomes for the
Rangers' second run of the inning. Gimenez had been on second with a
double when Choice singled to left. The throw from left fielder
Michael Brantley was on time, but Gomes had to jump to catch it.
Gomes still appeared to have time to get the out, but his tag near
Gimenez's knee was too late as Gimenez's foot crossed the plate.
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That would have been the third out of the inning, but the Rangers
added two more runs in the frame to grab a 4-0 lead. Second baseman
Rougned Odor smacked a two-run home run into the upper deck in right
field with Choice on base.
"He's a strong kid and he hit the ball pretty hard tonight," Rangers
manager Ron Washington said. "He went up there and sat on a
first-pitch fastball in and got it."
Cleveland made up for some of it in the top of the third when first
baseman Lonnie Chisenhall blasted a full-count offering from Darvish
off the foul-pole in right for a three-run home run, cutting the
Texas lead to 4-3.
Then Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera tied it in the fourth with a
solo home run to almost the exact same spot as Chisenhall's homer.
But Darvish kept fighting and seemed to get stronger after throwing
his first 85 pitches of the night.
"I tell you what he did do is he kept us in the ball game,"
Washington said. "He got through the seventh inning, and if you
looked at it earlier you probably wouldn't think he would get that
far."
NOTES: The Indians entered Friday's series opener in Texas on a
six-game winning streak, the longest in what has been a streaky
season for Cleveland. The Indians have three winning streaks of four
games or longer and three losing streaks of four games or longer,
including a six-game skid from April 25 to April 30. ... Rangers SS
Elvis Andrus entered the game having hit safely in all 37 career
games against Cleveland. He remained perfect with a single to right
in the bottom of the eighth on Friday. ... Texas began the night
ranked 28th in home runs this season with 40, but the Rangers
entered on a power surge, having homered in four straight games. 2B
Rougned Odor extended it to five straight with a home run in the
second. The current streak followed a six-game drought without a
homer.
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