Light-hitting Cleveland loses, 4-1, to Texas in finale of series

CLEVELAND — The Indians might as well have some fun while they complete their 2009 journey to oblivion. So why not see if they can catch the Minnesota Twins?

The Indians didn’t look like a club that could catch more than a cold Thursday in losing, 4-1, to the Texas Rangers at Progressive Field.

But the shock alone of playing a Rangers team that employs effective pitchers probably was enough to throw the Indians off their game. Granted, the Tribe lineup is a composite of batters who don’t make enough money to warrant a trade, at least one player (Grady Sizemore) who has been playing hurt for most of the season, plus two or three hitters who played at Triple-A at least part of the year.

Notwithstanding all of that, these Rangers can pitch, and most of them are young. Thursday, it was Scott Feldman showing off his skills. Feldman (12-4, 3.90 ERA) ran his pitch count up early and was limited to six innings (108 pitches). But it wasn’t a waste of his time. He yielded only one run, seven hits and two walks.

“Their pitching the last couple of days has been very good,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “Feldman is strong; he’s having a great year.”

Jeremy Sowers started for the Tribe and wasn’t horrible, but he fell far short of what was needed to keep up with Feldman. In 51‚Ñ3 innings, Sowers (4-8, 4.88 ERA) gave up all the runs on eight hits and a walk.

“I thought Jeremy pitched better than his line,” Wedge said. “It was a tight [strike] zone out there today. There were a lot of pitches thrown, especially the first five innings.”

The only Indians run came in the first inning, when Jamey Carroll singled with one out, advanced to third on Asdrubal Cabrera’s single and scored on Shin-Soo Choo’s sacrifice fly.

In the third, the Tribe had another chance to dent the scoreboard, when Sizemore led off with a bloop single and stopped at second on Carroll’s hit. But after Cabrera bunted the runners to second and third, Choo struck out, and Jhonny Peralta hit a fiery liner to Feldman.

A double play kept Feldman safe and sound in the fourth, after Luis Valbuena led off with a single and Kelly Shoppach was hit by a pitch.

The Tribe had its share of base runners, to be sure, but the truth is Feldman allowed few balls to be hit with authority. No Indians batter produced an extra-base hit.

The Indians were fortunate to win one of three games from the Rangers. They batted .220 for the series, averaging two runs.