Rangers recap: Holland comes up big as Texas reduces magic number with 5-3 win against Angels

Derek Holland turned in a gut-check performance on the mound and Adrian Beltre provided a bases-clearing double as the Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 Thursday night at Globe Life Park. The Rangers can clinch the American League West title with a win Friday. Thursday’s win assured Texas of no worse than a tie for the West title.

Pitching: Derek Holland allowed two runs on three hits and three walks in six innings. Albert Pujols doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly in the second to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. It could have been worse. Left fielder Josh Hamilton made an over the shoulder catch before banging into the wall on the sac fly. His relay throw to Elvis Andrus who threw home nearly caught Pujols. In the sixth, Pujols’ solo homer pulled the Angles to within 4-2. Holland left with one out and one on after hitting Shane Victorino in the seventh. Ross Ohlendorf replaced him and quickly got a foul out for the second out. He walked Johnny Giavotella before Erick Aybar singled to shallow center to score Giavotella and pull the Angels to within 4-3. Jake Diekman replaced Ohlendorf and got Kole Calhoun to groundout to shortstop Elvis Andrus. Andrus had to rush his throw on the slow-hopper and Mike Napoli made a long stretch at first to end the inning. Sam Dyson started the seventh and got Mike Trout, Pujols and C.J. Cron to groundout to short. Cron’s deflected off the mound and Andrus had to barehand the pickup before firing to first to nip Cron and end the inning. Shawn Tolleson closed it out in the ninth to earn his 35th save.

Hitting: In the fifth, Delino DeShields’ double to left-center scored Andrus to tie it at 1-1. Shin-Soo Choo fell behind 0-2 before working a walk to load the bases. Adrian Beltre ripped a double to left to clear the bases and give Texas a 4-1 lead. In the seventh, Beltre and Prince Fielder started with singles before Beltre scored on a sacrifice fly to deep center by Hamilton to give Texas a 5-3 lead.

Notable: Texas’ magic number is one. The Rangers will clinch the A.L. West title with a win Friday night against the Angels ... Holland’s performance (three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings) was his best since allowing one earned run in eight innings on Sept. 5 ... Hamilton’s double in the second was his first extra-base hit since a homer on Aug. 14.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Holland comes up big as Texas reduces magic number with 5-3 win against Angels."