• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rangers-Indians Preview

Sep 9, 2009 - 5:06 AM By MATT BROWN STATS Editor

Texas (76-60) at Cleveland (60-76), 12:05 p.m. EDT

Scott Feldman will pitch on the road Wednesday for the sixth time in his last seven starts.

He shows no signs of being homesick.

Feldman seeks his eighth straight win away from home and his seventh consecutive victory overall as he takes the mound for the Texas Rangers in the finale of their three-game set against the Cleveland Indians.

As the Rangers (78-60) pursue their first playoff appearance in a decade - they trail Boston by two games for the AL wild card - Feldman (15-4, 3.62 ERA) has emerged as their staff ace. The right-hander is 6-0 over his last seven starts overall, and 7-0 with a 1.57 ERA in seven outings on the road since the start of July.

Feldman gave up one run over six innings of a 5-1 victory at Baltimore last Friday to improve to 11-1 away from home, tying a club record for road wins in a season shared by Rick Helling (1998) and Vicente Padilla (2008).

"There is really nothing to it," Feldman said of his road success. "Just being the benefactor of playing on a good team. I do everything the same. Just being on a good team and them playing well when I toe the rubber."

One of Feldman's wins in his current streak came at Cleveland on Aug. 13, when he limited the Indians (60-78) to one run over six innings while scattering seven hits and walking two. It was his first victory in eight appearances against Cleveland, six of which came in relief.

Feldman should be in good shape if the Rangers' lineup can produce the way it did Tuesday. Texas totaled 21 runs and 31 hits in a doubleheader sweep of Cleveland, following an 11-9 win in the opener with a 10-5 victory in the nightcap.

Marlin Byrd had seven hits, including a home run on the day to raise his average 10 points to .286, while rookie Julio Borbon homered twice in the first game and Chris Davis went 3 for 4 with a three-run homer in the second.

Bouncing back from two straight losses to Baltimore over the weekend, Texas is now the closest it has been to a playoff spot this late in the season since winning its last AL West title in 1999.

"It seems like this team forgets about the day before, comes out and gets it done," Byrd said.

The Indians continue to fail to get it done. Cleveland has dropped seven of nine, though it has played .500 ball since the All-Star break even while being out of contention.

"We're going to come to play until this season is done," manager Eric Wedge said. "We didn't play particularly well, but we played our tails off."

Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona (3-9, 6.08) draws the unenviable task of trying to cool off the Rangers. The right-hander, who was sent to the minors in early June due to ineffectiveness, is 1-3 with a 4.05 ERA in seven starts since his July 31 return. He allowed three runs over 6 1-3 innings last Thursday, when he didn't earn a decision in a 10-inning, 4-3 loss at Detroit.

Carmona has lost both of his starts against the Rangers this season, and is 2-5 with a 4.99 ERA in seven career outings.