ARLINGTON -- After a 10-week stint on the injured list with a back strain, Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger survived another scare early in his start against the Rangers on Monday night before righting himself and battling through an imperfect, but often promising outing in a 7-2 loss at Globe Life Park.

Facing just his fourth batter of the game, after a crisp first inning, Clevinger fell awkwardly after he ran off the mound chasing a grounder to first base. He lay face-down on the grass for a few seconds before Indians personnel, including manager Terry Francona, hurried from the dugout to check on him. Despite the apparently worrisome incident, after a few test hops and a few test pitches, Clevinger waved off the concerns and kept pitching.

Though he stayed in the game, the sting from his twisted left ankle -- and perhaps the mental uncertainty that came with it -- lingered long enough that the Indians had him undergo a precautionary X-ray, which “came back good,” he said.

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Clevinger had made only two starts this season before the back injury sidelined him in early April, and given the circumstances on Monday, the pitcher and manager were entitled to fear the worst.

“It was hard not to,” Francona said. “It didn’t look good.”

After his slick first inning, Clevinger was just settling in when he went down.

“It’s definitely scary just coming off the IL,” Clevinger said. “Until that ankle thing happened, it was a lot of fun. It was almost therapeutic with what I’ve been through.”

After returning to his feet, Clevinger promptly struck out the next batter on a 98-mph fastball, tied for his fastest of the night. He fanned the next hitter on a fastball, too, and Clevinger totaled seven strikeouts -- including six with the heater -- in his 4 2/3 innings.

But Clevinger also walked three, all of whom scored, and he allowed three costly hits, all for extra bases. Shin-Soo Choo’s RBI double in the third and Danny Santana’s two-run homer in the fourth both came with two out, and Clevinger also recorded two outs in the fifth before walking back-to-back hitters to end his night.

Clevinger said his outing was “a little bit erratic, but good for the first time back on the bump.

“I wish I obviously had different results -- a couple dumb pitches.”

Elvis Andrus, the first batter to face Indians reliever Tyler Clippard, doubled in Clevinger’s last two baserunners to tag him with five earned runs.

“It was nice to see him back competing,” Francona said. “As he gets reps under his belt, he’ll build up and he’ll refine his pitches, and he’ll be OK. He gave his all. He’s going to get deeper and have more refinement to his pitches the more he pitches.”

The Indians’ hitters were stymied by Rangers starter Lance Lynn, who allowed one earned run on six hits to go with nine strikeouts and no walks. Cleveland scored its runs on homers by Francisco Lindor and Oscar Mercado.

“He was good,” Mercado said of Lynn, who struck him out three times. “He’s a big man with a towering presence, so you go out there and it feels like he’s kind of on top of you. He had everything going, throwing the fastballs in, cutters, sliders away, and he had a really good life on his fastball.”

The Rangers tacked on two more runs in the sixth -- again after the Indians had recorded two outs -- against reliever Tyler Olson.

“We just couldn’t stop innings,” Francona said.