Rangers clinch playoff spot with win over Angels

Good news arrived on multiple fronts Thursday night for the Texas Rangers, who held a subdued toast to reaching their goal of returning to the postseason.

Next up on their list is clinching the American League West title, at which point a raucous celebration will take place. That’s likely coming very soon, with the division crown only one win or one Houston Astros loss away.

But the Rangers were able to sip some bubbly in large part due to their potential No. 2 playoff starter finding his form. The oft-injured left fielder they picked up on the cheap was pretty good, too, against the team that gave him away.

The Rangers scored four times in the fifth inning, a rally capped by Adrian Beltre’s three-run double, and Derek Holland allowed three earned runs in 6  1/3 innings as the Rangers beat Los Angeles 5-3 and eliminated the Angels from the AL West hunt.

The Rangers’ magic number sits at one, and their lead over the Astros is three games.

“We had a toast, yes,” manager Jeff Banister said. “I believe in celebrating moments that are important, important to that group of guys inside that clubhouse and what they’ve accomplished to this point.

“We’re not done yet.”

Every win at this point is enormous, but Holland’s performance should give him and the Rangers a boost after his recent struggles. He entered the start 0-2 with an 8.59 ERA in his past four starts and was coming off a start Saturday in which he was struck in the middle finger on his pitching hand.

He struck out the first three Angels of the game, allowed a run in the second but avoided more damage as Hamilton made a tumbling over-the-shoulder catch at and into the left-field wall, and didn’t yield again until Albert Pujols hit two-out solo homer in the sixth.

“It hurt, but it’s fine,” Hamilton said.

Ross Ohlendorf allowed a Holland runner to score in the seventh, but the Rangers weren’t complaining about Holland’s final pitching line.

“I thought Derek was really good,” Banister said. “Very important for Derek. Very important for not only him but this ballclub also for him to come out and pitch a ballgame fairly clean and come out and do what we did tonight.”

After the Angels closed to 4-3 in the seventh, Beltre and Prince Fielder started the home half with singles, and Beltre scored two batters later on Hamilton’s deep fly ball to center field.

“We settled in in the middle innings and put together some good at-bats,” Banister said. “It was the veteran guys in the middle of that lineup that came up big.”

Sam Dyson went through the meat of the Angels’ lineup in the eighth, getting Mike Trout, Pujols and C.J. Cron on three grounders to shortstop, and Shawn Tolleson closed it out.

The Rangers have all but closed out the Astros. The Rangers are back in the playoffs, and the AL West could be theirs as soon as Friday night.

“Our eyes are still on the division,” Beltre said. “It’s just recognition as a team that we’ve come a long way. ... A lot of people didn’t expect us to be here and we found a way to get here.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Rangers clinch playoff spot with win over Angels."