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Indians down Rangers for fifth straight win

Aug 23, 2008 - 5:29 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Fausto Carmona looks to be finding his groove, something Texas Rangers pitchers have rarely done this season.

Carmona posted his second win since returning from a long stint on the disabled list, and Ryan Garko drove in two runs, sending the streaking Cleveland Indians to a 7-5 victory over the Rangers on Friday.

After missing two months with a strained left hip, Carmona (6-5) registered his best start since returning to the rotation on July 26, allowing one unearned run and six hits with three walks and five strikeouts over six innings.

"I felt like I was getting ahead of hitters tonight," Carmona said through an interpreter. "I kept the ball down and was able to work inside which kept their hitters off the plate."

Cleveland, which matched its season high with its fifth straight win, wasted little time getting to Rangers rookie Matt Harrison (5-3) as Garko roped a two-run double to the fence in center in the first.

"Harrison threw hard but we got to some good counts and then we saw a few more pitches over the plate," Garko said. "We'll take the runs early or any way we can get them, but it was nice to go out and let Fausto pitch with a lead."

The Indians added three more runs in the second courtesy of run-scoring hits from Andy Marte and Jhonny Peralta, along with a sacrifice fly from Asdrubal Cabrera.

One start after allowing three hits over eight scoreless frames in a win over Tampa Bay, Harrison lasted 3 2/3 innings, surrendering five runs and seven hits, marking the 37th time a Texas starter has failed to go at least five innings.

"I was leaving the ball up," Harrison said. "I didn't make the adjustments until the third inning and, by then, I'd given up five runs. I've got to start out by keeping the ball down. You can't have one good outing and then one bad outing. I've got to find consistency."

As a result of the Rangers' ineffective starters, Texas' bullpen has logged a major league-high 471 innings.

"If you have to log three or four innings every day out of the bullpen, they're going to be running on fumes," Rangers manager Ron Washington said.

After Texas moved to within 5-4 on a three-run shot from Marlon Byrd, Ben Francisco belted an RBI ground-rule double to right-center and Franklin Gutierrez drew a bases-loaded walk to establish a three-run margin.

"I was just trying to get the ball up and hope for a sacrifice fly," Francisco said. "It just happened to hit the gap and bounce over. It was nice to tack on those extra runs though."

Closer Jensen Lewis relieved Rafael Perez to start the ninth and surrendered a leadoff homer to Brandon Boggs and a single to Michael Young but settled down to record his fifth save by striking out Josh Hamilton and Frank Catalanotto before getting Hank Blalock to line out to short.

The five-game winning streak matches the efforts the Indians put together from April 22-26 and August 8-12.