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MIA@CLE: Gomez fans four over 6 1/3 scoreless frames

Although the Indians enter the second game of the series with the Rangers without a chance at the postseason, they're still aiming to chalk up a win every night.

They'll send Jeanmar Gomez to the mound on Saturday hoping he can get the team back on track as they round out their 2012 campaign.

Gomez is a late fill-in for Roberto Hernandez, who left his most recent start, on Monday against the Athletics, after just 2 1/3 innings with a sprained right ankle. He took the loss after after giving up three runs on four hits, and hadn't recovered enough by Saturday to make the start.

Gomez has started 13 times this season, but this will be his first start since June after being called back up from Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday.

He lost his past three outings as a starter, and went just 5 2/3 innings in the last of the three. He gave up five runs on six hits, striking out three and walking none, but recorded the loss regardless.

"I don't know. I felt good in the bullpen before the start," Gomez said. "I try not to make mistakes up in the zone. But it's part of the game, it happens. The good ones come back."

The Indians will hope for more of the good as Gomez faces the Rangers' Scott Feldman.

Feldman has had his fair share of struggles recently, going 0-4 with a 6.45 ERA in his past four starts. Opponents are hitting .326 off him in that stretch.

He was roughed up in his most recent outing, allowing six runs (five earned) in 5 2/3 innings against the Twins.

"It was a frustrating game in that they had guys on base the whole day, whether it was by well-executed bunts or hits in the right spot," said Feldman, who recorded the loss. "They also got some hits with runners in scoring position. I thought I made good pitches, for the most part, but ... ultimately, we didn't win the game. That's the frustrating part."

Feldman is 2-4 with a 6.21 ERA on the road this season and 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA in his career against the Indians.

Rangers: August a big hit with Andrus
Elvis Andrus finished August with 40 hits, the second most in the Majors for the month, trailing only the Yankees' Derek Jeter, who had 42.

The last Ranger with that many hits in a month was Michael Young, who tallied 41 in July 2011.

The 40 hits are the most by Andrus in his career in any single month.

Indians: Players come to Acta's defense
When a club sits 20 games below .500, fingers start to point toward all aspects of the organization.

Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera said it's been a team struggle and defended manager Manny Acta when it came to the team's hard times.

"Everybody worries about that," Cabrera said on Thursday morning. "We don't want anybody losing a job here. This is our team, and we've got to be together. We've got to pull everything together and try to get everybody happy in here."

The Indians are just 5-28 in their past 33 games and have fallen from 3 1/2 games back to 17 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central.

Worth noting
• Indians rookie reliever Cody Allen went through his first 12 Major League appearances without allowing a run but has given up four earned runs in his past three outings.

• If Texas' David Murphy was qualified for league leader status (he's seven plate appearances shy), he would rank among the AL's best in average (sixth, .312), on-base percentage (fourth, .390) and average with runners in scoring position (second, .389).

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