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Sports

Tribe go for sweep of Rangers

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

The Cleveland Indians hope their luck at Progressive Field continues on Sunday, as they try to complete a sweep of the Texas Rangers.

Justin Masterson pitched into the eighth inning on Saturday to help Cleveland pick up a 1-0 victory in the second game of the series. Michael Bourn's home run accounted for the only run of the game to help the Indians win a third straight game. It also marked the sixth consecutive win at home for the Tribe, who outlasted the Rangers for an 11-8 decision in Friday's opener.

Bourn's home run extended his hitting streak to five games and gave him eight RBI over his past three.

Ubaldo Jimenez will get the starting nod for Cleveland on Sunday. The right- hander gave up five hits and two runs over 5 2/3 innings in a loss to the Mariners in his last start.

"It is tough," Jimenez said after the setback. "The main thing is you want to minimize the mistakes. You don't want to be making mistakes, especially with a hitter like (Kendrys) Morales. He has a lot of power. If you make a mistake, like I did with that pitch, he's going to hit it a long way."

Jimenez rarely has a dreadful outing as he has just one game with more than three earned runs to his credit in his last 11 starts.

Texas will counter with Alexi Ogando, who gave up three runs in five innings to the New York Yankees in his return from the disabled list on Tuesday. Ogando didn't exactly receive a bode of confidence from his coach after receiving a no- decision in his first game back.

"(Ogando) gave us five innings of stressful pitching," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "He had to battle to get through five. We felt like after he got us through the fifth, which it looked like he got a little stronger, that's all we needed."

The Rangers were unable to get anything going at the plate on Saturday. Engel Beltre went 2-for-4, but none of his teammates registered a multi-hit game with him. Adrian Beltre was held hitless by Masterson after a 3-for-5 showing in the series opener. The veteran third baseman has a good chance of getting back on track as he is 6-for-14 against Jimenez in his career.

Elvis Andrus has registered at least one hit in each of the nine games since the All-Star break to raise his batting average to .249. The 24-year old shortstop's streak may be in jeopardy as he is just 1-for-8 with three strikeouts against Jimenez in history.

Cleveland won two of three against the Rangers earlier this season and is 15-4 against the AL West. Texas is five games back of Oakland for first place in the AL West while the Indians trail the Tigers by three in the AL Central race.