Rangers Win Without Cruz
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ANAHEIM, Calif. – Three hours after outfielder Nelson Cruz had an emotional meeting with his teammates, the Texas Rangers went out and beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 Monday night at Angel Stadium.
Cruz was suspended for 50 games Monday for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy, but the Rangers didn’t miss their home run and RBI leader, at least for one night. Adrian Beltre homered and Elvis Andrus had a two-run triple in support of starting pitcher Martin Perez (4-3), who gave up two runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings to earn the victory.
The win moved the Rangers to within two games of idle Oakland in the American League West. Meanwhile, the Angels dropped 13 games behind Oakland in the division and 11 games behind Texas for the second wild-card spot.
It was a trying day all around for the Rangers, but they came together in the clubhouse before the game, and then on the field during the game. It’s the only way to handle the situation, Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
“I don’t look at it, I accept it, there’s a difference,” Washington said when asked how he is dealing with the situation involving Cruz. “When you look at it, you do nothing about it. When you accept it, you do something about it. Just go play baseball. That’s it. We can do that.
“We’ve got to stick together. We’ve been through adversity before and
come out on the other side. This is no different. It’s adversity. We’ve been there. If this was a shock to us and we’d never been there, it’d be a problem. But we’ve been there.”
The Rangers had only seven hits in the game, six of which came off Angels starter Jerome Williams (5-8).
Beltre’s homer was his 24th of the season and Jurickson Profar had two hits and an RBI. But the key hit of the game was Andrus’ two-out, two-run triple in the fifth inning that snapped a 1-1 tie and gave the Rangers the lead for good.
Andrus’ ball was hit to shallow right field, where second baseman Howie Kendrick and right fielder Collin Cowgill collided. Cowgill’s arm hit Kendrick’s left leg as Kendrick was planting his leg, which appeared to be hyperextended. Kendrick had to be helped off the field and was listed as day-to-day pending further tests.
Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for the Rangers for his 33rd save.
“We have to pick it up and play better and do some things better, and hopefully we will,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “Nobody’s feeling sorry for themselves in here. We know what we’re up against.”
The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Perez when Mike Trout singled, stole second and scored on a double by Mark Trumbo. Trout has now reached base safely in 36 consecutive games.
Williams made that lead stand up for four innings, but in the fifth the Rangers finally broke through. Texas loaded the bases with one out
before Williams struck out Leonys Martin for the second out of the inning.
But the Rangers pushed across a run on a wild pitch, then added two more on the Andrus bloop triple.
