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Byrd seeks third consecutive win for Indians

Aug 1, 2007 - 2:27 PM Texas (47-59) at Cleveland (60-49) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - The Cleveland Indians hand the ball to Paul Byrd in the second game of their three-game series against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.

Byrd (9-4, 4.40 ERA) battled through seven innings, allowing four runs and 10 hits to string a pair of wins to together for the first time since May with Friday's triumph over the Minnesota Twins.

The righthander was solid in his last start here against Texas, which was limited to three runs in six frames by Byrd on April 26. He is 3-5 lifetime against the Rangers.

In Tuesday's series opener, Fausto Carmona failed in his attempt to became the first American League 14-game winner as the Indians endured a 3-1 loss.

Cleveland has lost six of its last eight games, and trails Detroit by one game in the AL Central.

Texas' John Rheinecker (1-0, 3.18) hopes to build off his last start when he held the Seattle Mariners to one run in seven frames of a 2-1 win on June 24.

The 6-2 lefthander is making his third start of the season after missing the opening two months with back problems. He went 4-2 with a 3.57 ERA in nine outings with Class AAA Oklahoma.

After going hitless in four at-bats in Tuesday's loss, Sammy Sosa will be glad to face Byrd as he is hitting .385 with three homers and five RBI.