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McCarthy outshines Carmona as Rangers edge Indians

Aug 1, 2007 - 3:01 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND -- It's been a long time for Brandon McCarthy.

McCarthy picked up his first win in over two months as the Texas Rangers ended their three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday.

The 6-7 righthander, who recorded his last win on May 20 at Houston, yielded one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out only one and walked three.

"It's been a couple of months since I won," McCarthy said. "So it's nice to have that feeling again."

McCarthy (5-7), who was placed on the disabled list on June 10 with a blister on his right middle finger, returned to the Texas rotation on July 2 and had gone 0-3 with a 4.78 in five outings in July prior to Tuesday.

McCarthy looked strong heading into the seventh, but gave up a solo home run to Ryan Garko to cut the Rangers' lead to 3-1 and a single to Trot Nixon before turning it over to the bullpen.

It was McCarthy's longest outing since September 22, 2005 against Minnesota, when he still was a member of the Chicago White Sox.

"To get later in the game makes me feel good," McCarthy said. "I got a lot of early strikes and (Cleveland) was hacking."

"He was outstanding," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He was able to spot his fastball and maximize his pitch count. For him to give us a chance to win was a big boost for us."

Frank Francisco worked out of the seventh and got the first out of the eighth. C.J. Wilson went 1 2/3 innings to close the door for his first save.

"It was good that I had an opportunity to get the save," Wilson said. "It was a little less drama because I had been working later in games this season."

The Rangers' bullpen was stellar without closer Eric Gagne, who earlier in the day was traded to the Boston Red Sox.

Cleveland had a chance to score a couple of runs off McCarthy in the third and fourth innings, but the 24-year-old worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the third, then needed some luck to get out of the fourth unscathed.

Victor Martinez drew a leadoff walk in the fourth and eventually moved to third base with two outs. McCarthy fell behind Jhonny Peralta 3-2 and uncorked a pitch over the head of catcher Gerald Laird for ball four.

Martinez broke for home as soon as the ball got by Laird, but the ball bounced right back to Laird, who had plenty of time to throw to McCarthy to get the slow-footed Martinez at the plate.

Texas opened the scoring in the fifth as Nelson Cruz delivered his sixth homer of the season against starter Fausto Carmona (13-5) for a 1-0 edge. Cruz entered hitting just .199. and snapped Carmona's 22-inning scoreless streak.

"(Cruz) is seeing the ball very well since he opened his stance," Washington said. "If you throw him the ball over the plate, he can put a good swing on it."

The Rangers added two more runs in the sixth, taking advantage of Casey Blake's error to take a 3-0 advantage. Ian Kinsler drew a lead walked and went to third on Michael Young's single, with Young advancing to second on the throw. Carmona then hit Sammy Sosa on the first pitch to load the bases.

Marlon Byrd then hit a potential double-play ball, but Blake misplayed the grounder, allowing two runs to score for a 3-0 cushion.

"It bounced up and I thought it about hit me in the face," Blake said. "It hit something and hopped up. I didn't even get a glove on it. That's how bad it was."

Carmona, like teammate C.C. Sabathia on Monday night, was unsuccessful in his attempt to become the first pitcher in the American League to win 14 games. The Dominican righthander allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings in ending his personal five-game undefeated streak.

"My job is to keep the team in the game and give them a chance to win," Carmona said through a translator. "I think I did that."

The Indians' offense once again failed to help out their starting pitcher, scoring fewer than two runs for the sixth time in their last eight games to fall to 2-6 on their 10-game homestand.

"Offensively, we've got to do a much better job," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "We have to put up better at-bats. We can't let it keep going from one at-bat to the next. Somebody's got to stop it. We've got top nip this in the bud."