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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Bartolo Colon mixed some finesse with
his heat on Monday night, a combination that shut down the Texas
Rangers.
Colon gave up five hits over eight innings as Cleveland beat
Texas 5-2, moving the Indians a half-game ahead of Boston in the AL
wild-card race.
|  | | Cleveland's Bartolo Colon struck out six and gave up only five hits in beating Texas 5-2 on Monday. |
"My breaking ball was working tonight," said Colon through his
Spanish interpreter, bullpen coach Luis Isaac. "I decided to pitch
tonight instead of overpowering everybody."
Colon (12-8) also had an effective fastball as he struck out six
and walked two. He blanked the Rangers until the eighth, when Mike
Lamb hit a two-run homer.
"He had good life on his fastball but he didn't overthrow,"
Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel said. "When he had to, he kept
the ball down. I think he can pitch even better than that. His
confidence level was good and he was getting ahead of them the
whole game."
Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his seventh save in nine
chances since being traded from Milwaukee to Cleveland, but he was
more impressed by Colon's outing.
"Bart pitched a great game," Wickman said. "He set the tone
early and I wanted to hold it. They're a good hitting team, so you
never feel like you're in the driver's seat. It was a good thing we
were up by five."
The Rangers have lost five of six and 12 of 16, although manager
Johnny Oates says he is satisfied with his team's effort.
"Sometimes a manager wishes that it was a lack of effort rather
than a lack of executing," Oates said. "Then you have something
to yell about. You know, maybe we're just a little short. The
margin for error is very small."
Kenny Lofton went 3-for-5 and Roberto Alomar homered for the
Indians, 16-8 since Aug. 2.
Lofton and Omar Vizquel led off the game with singles against
Kenny Rogers (11-12). Manny Ramirez hit an RBI single and Travis
Fryman drove in another run with a groundout.
Alomar led off the third with his 16th homer. The Indians went
on to load the bases and Einar Diaz's infield single made it 4-0.
Rogers allowed four runs and nine hits over seven innings as he
dropped his third straight decision. Rogers struck out four, walked
two, and hit two batters.
Cleveland made it 5-0 in the eighth off reliever Darwin
Cubillan. Lofton doubled, went to third on Vizquel's single and
scored when center fielder Gabe Kapler overthrew the plate for an
error.
Bill Haselman led off the Texas eighth with a single and Lamb
followed with his sixth homer.
Game notes
Rogers has lost seven of his last nine decisions. ...
Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 12 games. ... Texas hasn't
won two straight in the last 29 games. The Rangers went 30 games
without back-to-back wins from May 6-June 6, 1990.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
Texas Clubhouse
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