CLEVELAND — Scott Feldman lost his fifth consecutive start, the offense couldn't overcome an early four-run deficit and the Texas Rangers fell 4-3 to a struggling Cleveland Indians team.
The Indians won for just the second time in their last 16 games, while the Rangers lost for the second time in their past five games.Feldman looked like he might not even make it through the first inning.He started the game by issuing a five-pitch walk to Shin-Soo Choo, and the Indians followed with four consecutive hits to take a 2-0 lead. Roy Oswalt began warming in the bullpen, but Feldman retired the next three batters on groundouts. However, two were run-scoring grounders as Cleveland had a 4-0 lead by the end of the first.Feldman settled down after that and went on to throw five scoreless innings. He allowed only two base runners between the second and sixth.However, the Rangers couldn’t overcome the early deficit.Texas scored its first run when David Murphy led off the third inning with a solo home run. The Rangers pulled to within 4-2 in the fifth when Murphy scored on a sacrifice fly by Mitch Moreland. And they got to within one-run in the sixth on Adrian Beltre’s solo shot.But they were never able to take the lead.Elvis Andrus reached on a one-out single in the eighth, and moved to third on a two-out single by Beltre. But Nelson Cruz flew out to end that threat.In the ninth, Murphy had a one-out single but Geovany Soto struck out looking and Mitch Moreland grounded out to end the game.Check back for updates on our Foul Territory blog.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
