Mitch Talbot lost his fourth game in the last five starts as the Indians went 1-2 at Texas. Manager Manny Acta was ejected for the first time as Indians skipper.
Jayson Nix (left) is welcomed at the Indians' dugout by Travis Hafner after slugging his fourth home run of the Tribe's three-game series against the Rangers on Thursday night. ON DECK: INDIANS AT TAMPA BAY RAYS
When: Thursday through Sunday.
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio (all days) and WKYC Ch. 3 Saturday; WTAM AM/1100.
Pitching matchups: RHP Jake Westbrook (5-4, 4.59 ERA) vs. RHP Wade Davis (5-9, 4.86) at 7:10 Thursday; RHP Fausto Carmona (7-7, 3.69) vs. RHP James Shields (7-8, 4.83) at 7:10 p.m. Friday; LHP Aaron Laffey (1-2, 5.18) vs. RHP Matt Garza (9-5, 4.30) at 7:10 p.m. Saturday; and RHP Justin Masterson (3-8, 5.22) vs. RHP Jeff Niemann (7-2, 2.65) at 1:40 p.m. Sunday.
Season series: The Indians are 0-2 against the Rays this year. They lead, 65-31, overall.
Indians update: They enter the series having won seven of their past 11 games. On the road, however, they’ve lost 10 of 13. Carmona went 6.2 innings against the Rays on May 17 in a no-decision that the Indians lost on a squeeze bunt in the 11th inning. Jhonny Peralta had four hits in the two-game series.
Rays update: Tampa took a four-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s game against Boston. The Rays are hitting .289 as a team against the Tribe. Niemann scattered 10 hits, but allowed only three runs in a six-inning no-decision against the Tribe on May 17.
Injuries: Indians — OF Shin-Soo Choo (right thumb), RHP Anthony Reyes (right elbow), SS Asdrubal Cabrera (broken left forearm) and CF Grady Sizemore (left knee) are on the disabled list. 1B Matt LaPorta (head) is day to day. Rays — LHP J.P. Howell (left shoulder) is on the disabled list.
Next for Indians: The All-Star break. Indians resume play July 16 against the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field.
— Paul Hoynes
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The All-Star break is coming just in time for Mitch Talbot.
Talbot has been one of the biggest rookie surprises in the American League this year, but he may need a rest. Talbot lost for the fourth time in his last five starts Wednesday night as Texas came-from-behind to beat the Indians, 4-3, at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The Indians acquired Talbot from Tampa Bay over the winter in exchange for Kelly Shoppach. Talbot, caught in a logjam of talented Rays' pitching, pitched only 68 1/3 innings last season because of right shoulder and right elbow problems.
In his final start before the break, Talbot went 5 2/3 innings against the Rangers to bring his first half total to 108 1/3 innings. Before this season, he'd never pitched more than 9 2/3 innings in the big leagues and never more than 170 2/3 in a season.
Talbot (8-7, 3.99) entered the game leading AL rookie pitchers in victories, ERA, innings pitched, winning percentage and complete games. The Rangers worked him over for four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.
In his last five starts, Talbot is 1-4 with a 4.99 ERA. He's allowed 17 earned runs on 32 hits in 30 2/3 innings.
Talbot entered the fifth with a 3-1 lead. He gave up an infield single to shortstop by Julio Borbon. After wild pitching Borbon to second, Michael Young homered to right center to make it a 3-3 game. Young, trying to give the Rangers five All-Stars via the fans internet vote, hit a 0-1 pitch for his 11th homer.
The Indians had a chance to break the tie when Shelly Duncan started the sixth with a double past third. Colby Lewis, who spent the last two years pitching in Japan, didn't let that happen. He threw a called third strike past Trevor Crowe, retired Andy Marte on a fly ball to left and struck out Jason Donald.
Lewis (8-5, 3.33) is 2-0 against the Indians this year. He's held them to four runs over 11 1/3 innings.
Unlike the Indians, the Rangers didn't fan on their chance to break the tie.
Matt Treanor, with two out in the sixth, doubled to the wall in left. Talbot walked switch-hitting Andres Blanco, but gave up the game-winning single to Borbon. Joe Smith relieved. He walked Elvis Andrus to load the bases, but retired Young to escape the jam.
The early part of the game belonged to Jayson Nix. Yes, he did it again for the Tribe.
Nix homered for fourth time in this three-game series to pull the Indians into a 1-1 tie in the fourth. It was Nix's fifth homer in the last five games. He hit one with the White Sox to give him six for the season.
Before the game, the former No.1 pick of the Colorado Rockies said he's never been given a chance to play every day in the big leagues. The Indians, who have struggled to find a second baseman since trading Brandon Phillips, are giving him just such a chance.
"The power has always been there," said manager Manny Acta, before Wednesday's game. "He hit double digit in homers (12) with the White Sox last year. You never know what can happen.
"It's all about being in the right time in the right place."
Carlos Santana followed Nix's homer with a double off Lewis. Jhonny Peralta delivered him with a single to left field for a 2-1 lead.
The Indians stretched the lead to 3-1 in the fifth. Michael Brantley singled with one out, took second on a Lewis wild pitch and scored with two out when Andres Blanco couldn't handle Travis Hafner's grounder to second.
After Lewis' six-inning performance, the Texas bullpen stopped the Indians cold. Alexi Ogando pitched two scoreless innings and Neftali Feliz worked the ninth. Acta was ejected during Donald's at-bat in the ninth by first base umpire Tim Timmons for protesting a checked-swing strike by Timmons.
It was Acta's first ejection as an Indians manager and just his third in the big leagues.
Felix, who almost gave up a game-tying homer to Andy Marte, walked Donald with two out. He retired Brantley on a fly ball to left for his 23rd save.