Rangers Lose To Angels
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jered Weaver reached a milestone, along with beating the Texas Rangers again.
The 33-year-old right-hander picked up the 150th win of his career and the Los Angeles Angels held on to beat the Rangers 5-4 Wednesday night at Globe Life Park.
Weaver joined Chuck Finley (165 wins) as the only pitchers in franchise history with 150.
“It just means that I’ve been here for a little while and been a part of some pretty good teams and some winning teams,” said Weaver, 18-8 lifetime against Texas. “It’s one of things I’ll think about when I’m done, take it all in, but it was a good team win today.”
After watching Texas rally to win the first two games of the series, the Angels’ bullpen pitched three shutout innings to back Weaver. Mike Trout’s three-run home run gave Los Angeles a lead it wouldn’t surrender.
The Rangers (90-63) had their magic number to clinch the American League West remain at two after finishing out a 3-3 homestand. Texas also holds a one-game lead on Cleveland (88-63) for the best record in the AL.
Weaver (12-12) wasn’t his sharpest, but he added a victory his career-long mastery of the
Rangers. He went six innings, giving up four runs on six hits, while striking out six and walking two.
The 10-year veteran has beaten the Rangers more than any other club. Weaver has also won his last five decisions against Texas.
“Weave has been incredible for a long time, and it’s great to see him reach some milestones,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “He’s part of the heart and soul of what we’ve done.”
The Angels (66-86) closed it out with a scoreless inning each from A.J. Achter, JC Ramirez and Andrew Bailey. That trio allowed only two hits.
“All those guys came in and threw strikes, they pitched well,” Scioscia said.
Texas did make it interesting in its final at-bat. Elvis Andrus doubled with two outs and Bailey followed by hitting Jurickson Profar.
With the winning run at first, Bailey coaxed a fielder’s choice from Carlos Gomez to nail down his fourth save.
The Rangers head to Oakland for the start of a three-game series Friday looking to clinch. Texas manager Jeff Banister was encouraged by his club’s fight in the season finale with the Angels.
“I felt like our guys continued to grind and battle through it,” he said. “We had the winning run on first base there in the last. We’re still putting together at-bats. I feel great about our ballclub and where we’re at.”
Rangers starter Derek Holland (7-9) took the loss after his third straight sub-par outing, seemingly damaging his chances of being on the postseason roster for the first round. The lefty gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks in five innings.
Texas reliever Tanner Scheppers continues to make a strong case for a prominent spot in the bullpen come the playoffs. The righty worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings, the longest relief outing of his career.
Scheppers hasn’t allowed a run in seven of eight appearances since activated from the disabled list.
“Another tremendous outing,” Banister said.
Trout crushed his 28th homer in the fifth inning put Los Angeles up 5-1. Carlos Perez reached on an error to open the inning, and Holland walked Yunel Escobar before Trout came to the plate.
The Rangers got all three runs back in the bottom of the frame, two on Carlos Beltran’s home run to right. He has 28 long balls this season, six since joining Texas.
The Angels jumped ahead in the second as Gregorio Petit singled to right to score Andrelton Simmons. An extended rally was thwarted when C.J. Cron was gunned down trying to go first to third on the play for the second out.
Holland gave up another run in the third on Albert Pujols’ single to plate Escobar, but the Angels again ran themselves out of a potentially bigger inning. Trout made the second out trying to steal third.
Profar led off the third with a triple to left-center that hit the wall just below the 407-foot marker. He scored on Nomar Mazara’s squibber down the third base line to make it 2-1.
