ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Rougned Odor thrived in oppressive conditions.
Odor drove in three runs, Ryan Rua hit a two-run homer and the Texas Rangers withstood the heat on a 108-degree afternoon to beat the Cleveland Indians 5-0 on Sunday, stopping a four-game losing streak.
The game time temperature was 102 degrees - 5 shy of the stadium record set Friday and matched Saturday - then rose in the afternoon sunshine.
“Where I’m from it’s really hot like this,” said Odor, a native of Venezuela. “So, this is no problem for me playing with this weather. I like playing in this weather.”
Yovani Gallardo (4-1) and three relievers combined on a five-hitter against the AL Central leader, which had outscored Texas 25-11 in the first two games of the series.
“I just worked quickly, kept a tight strike zone and get guys to swing the bat,” Gallardo said.
That was key for the Rangers.
“I think the biggest part of it was Gallardo, all our pitchers, keeping our guys off the field for extended periods of time,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said.
Gallardo allowed three hits and four walks in six innings, his longest scoreless outing since Aug. 22, 2015, at Detroit. Jose Leclerc and Jake Diekman each pitched a one-hit inning, and Cory Gearrin got three straight outs on seven pitches.
Mike Clevinger (7-6) lost his third straight start, allowing two runs, four hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings.
“I walked the nine-hole hitter twice and that’s just really, really bad baseball,” Clevinger said. “It’s just not acceptable no matter what the score of the game is.”
“In the final meeting between the teams this year, Odor hit an RBI single in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth, then added a home run in the eighth against Oliver Perez.
Delino DeShields, hitting .073 (3 for 41) in July coming in, walked twice, stole two bases and scored the first two runs.
“We need for him to be on base,” Banister said. “We gave him a day after a rough day to get some work in. It was his speed that created for us early.”
POWER ARM
Joey Gallo has three assists in his first two games in right field. He got one during a rundown play Saturday, threw out Jason Kipnis trying to go from first to third on a second-inning single Sunday and then threw to first base to double up Melky Cabrera, who was running on a fly ball to right in the fourth. Gallo has two assists in 98 big league games in left and center field.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: LHP Andrew Miller, who hasn’t pitched for the Indians since May 25 because of a strained left hamstring, threw 19 pitches and allowed one hit in his third one-inning appearance for Triple-A Columbus, pitching against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Rangers: Gallo left the game in the eighth after landing on first base awkwardly while running out a grounder and spraining his left ankle.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Corey Kluber (12-5, 2.76) starts Monday’s series opener against visiting Pittsburgh, which starts RHP Trevor Williams (7-7, 4.36).
Rangers: LHP Cole Hamels (5-8, 4.36) could make his final home start for Texas in Monday’s series opener against Oakland and LHP Brett Anderson (1-2, 6.08).
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