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Rangers seek second straight win vs. lowly Indians

Sep 23, 2006 - 3:36 PM Cleveland (70-83) at Texas (78-76) 8:05 pm EDT

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Indians are sliding and the Texas Rangers hope to keep that going as they face off in the second game of their weekend series on Saturday.

Mark Teixeira and Michael Young each drove in four runs and slugger Carlos Lee recorded his 15th career multi-homer game for the Rangers, who breezed to a 12-4 victory Friday.

All-Star Gary Matthews Jr. became first leadoff hitter in Rangers history to score at least 100 runs in a season since Oddibe McDowell accomplished the feat during the 1986 campaign.

Texas' Vicente Padilla (14-9, 4.27 ERA) seeks a second consecutive win for the first time since August 9 after keeping the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim scoreless through 7 1/3 innings for an 8-1 victory last Sunday.

With another triumph, the 29-year-old Padilla will set a career high in wins.

The righthander Padilla was hammered for six runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 frames when he last faced Cleveland on September 1 here. He is 2-1 with a 6.62 ERA in three lifetime starts against the Indians.

Rookie Brian Slocum (0-0, 10.57) makes his first major league start following six relief appearances for Cleveland. The 25-year-old posted a 5-0 record with a respectable 2.34 ERA over his final nine outings for Class AAA Buffalo prior to being recalled.

The Indians have dropped four straight games and 11 of 14 overall.