Elvis Andrus homered and had an RBI triple to back another impressive home start by Mike Minor as the Texas Rangers earned a series split with a 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.
Minor (7-4) limited the Indians to three hits and one run over eight innings after they had scored 10 runs each of the last two nights. The lefty struck out four and walked three while throwing 70 of 110 pitches for strikes.
Danny Santana went deep in the Rangers' eighth, his third homer in the four-game series and seventh overall. Andrus immediately followed with his seventh homer, his first since May 12 at Houston.
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Mike Minor (23) throws to the Cleveland Indians in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP PhotoTony Gutierrez)
They also teamed up for the first two Texas runs. Andrus tripled to right-center in the first inning after Santana had doubled and stolen third base. Andrus raced home on a wild pitch by Shane Bieber (6-3) that ricocheted off catcher Kevin Plawecki and went several feet in front of the plate.
Minor has a 2.03 ERA in eight home starts, allowing no runs in four of those.
Shawn Kelley worked the ninth for his ninth save in 13 chances after giving up a leadoff homer to Carlos Santana.
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber throws to the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP PhotoTony Gutierrez)
Cleveland, which scored 44 runs in the first six games of its 5-2 trip, got its run off Minor in the sixth. It was the only time the Indians had multiple base runners in the same inning against him. Oscar Mercado had a two-out single and Carlos Santana walked before an RBI single by Jordan Luplow.
Andrus also had an impressive defensive play. The Rangers shortstop went up the middle and stretched to field a grounder by Jason Kipnis before a spin move and throw in the fifth. Ronald Guzman, their 6-foot-4 first baseman, made a full split to complete the out.
That was an inning after a heads-up play by second baseman Rougned Odor, who was in shallow right field when he let a soft popup by Jose Ramirez fall to the ground and started a double play .
Texas Rangers' Willie Calhoun (5) gets back to second safely after over running the bag on a double as Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis (22) reaches out for the throw in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP PhotoTony Gutierrez)
Indians first baseman Jake Bauers also had an impressive stretch to retire Shin-Soo Choo after second baseman Kipnis fielded the ground.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: RF Nomar Mazara got a scheduled day off for some extra rest and healing after playing two games since missing two games with right hamstring tightness. Manager Chris Woodward said the day off had nothing to do with Mazara getting hit by a pitch that also bounced up to hit him in the face Wednesday night.
Texas Rangers' Danny Santana steals third ahead of the throw to the bag in the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Indians in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP PhotoTony Gutierrez)
UP NEXT
Indians: Trevor Bauer (5-6), coming off his first career shutout in his last start Sunday at Detroit, faces the Tigers again Friday night when Cleveland opens a six-game homestand.
Rangers: Texas opens a weekend series against the Chicago White Sox with Ariel Jurado (4-3) making the start Friday night.
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