Lewis goes 5-0 as Rangers surge past Indians

May 31st, 2016

CLEVELAND -- Colby Lewis outpitched Corey Kluber with six scoreless innings and the Rangers won their fourth straight with a 7-3 victory over the Indians on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.
Cleveland has now lost three straight and four of its last five games.
"To get some runs up on the board and pitch well was good," Lewis said. "Pitching against a guy like Kluber, you have to keep it close. It was a good all-around win."
Kluber had his personal two-game winning streak snapped. He gave up a two-run home run to Bryan Holaday in the third, a solo shot to Jurickson Profar in the fifth and a two-run double to Ian Desmond in the eighth.

Lewis gave up two hits, two walks and two strikeouts and is now 5-0 with a 3.09 ERA after 11 starts. He left with a 3-0 lead. The Indians made it a one-run game in the seventh when Lonnie Chisenhall hit a two-run homer off Tony Barnette. But the Rangers struck back for three runs in the eighth.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Profar goes deep: Profar hit his first home run since being called up on Friday when he just cleared the right-field wall in the fifth inning. It was his first homer since Sept. 26, 2013, against the Angels. Profar's first Major League home run came on Sept. 2, 2012, here at Progressive Field.

"I think he feels good here," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "A lot of feel-good for him here."
Homers haunt Kluber: For the first time all season and just the fifth time in his last 90 starts, Kluber gave up multiple home runs in a game. Aside from the long ball, Kluber pitched fairly well until the eighth inning. Through seven innings, he gave up three runs -- all on homers -- on five hits before getting chased in the eighth on three consecutive hits.
"For seven, he gave up the two-run homer and then he gave up a solo," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "Other than that, they didn't do much. That's a pretty good lineup. We sent him out in the eighth and we were going to have [Brian] Shaw protect him. But it happened fast ... All of sudden the game got spread out."
Andrus makes dazzling stop: Lewis ran into trouble in the sixth when he walked Carlos Santana with one out. Santana was running on a full-count pitch to Jason Kipnis, who ripped a ground ball to the left side. Shortstop Elvis Andrus was on his way to cover second and had to reverse direction. But he made a terrific diving stop and got the out at first. After Lewis walked Francisco Lindor, he retired former batterymate Mike Napoli on a grounder to third to end the inning.

"That was an inning saver for us, a game saver," Banister said. "If that ball gets by, it's a different inning. Elvis did a great job keeping his eyes on the hitter. He was able to stop and react to the hitter."
Chisenhall goes yard: Chisenhall put the Indians on the board in the seventh with a two-run homer. It was his first homer of the season and first since Sept. 20, 2015. Per Statcast™, Chisenhall's shot to right-center had an exit velocity of 102 mph and traveled an estimated 411 feet from the plate. More >

"Right before June," Chisenhall said when asked about getting his first homer out of the way. "You know it was good. I've been hitting the ball hard, putting together good at-bats. You are up there just trying to have a quality at-bat, the home runs will come and go. Sometimes you will hit them all week, sometimes you will spread them all out."
WHAT'S NEXT
Rangers: Left-hander Cole Hamels (5-1, 3.34 ERA) will start on Wednesday at Progressive Field in the series finale against the Indians at 5:15 p.m. CT. He is 1-1 with a 4.32 ERA in his last four starts..
Indians: Right-hander Trevor Bauer (3-2, 4.34) will get the ball for Wednesday's series finale against the Rangers at 6:15 p.m. ET. Bauer is 0-2 in his previous three starts, allowing 10 earned runs over 17 2/3 innings.
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