ARLINGTON, Texas -- Cleveland starter C.C. Sabathia beat Texas for the fifth straight time and kept Rangers slugger Rafael Palmeiro from hitting his 500th homer in the Indians' 6-4 win on Saturday night.
Sabathia (2-2) is 5-0 with a 2.48 ERA in five career starts against Texas, including his only two wins this season.
The left-hander gave up five hits before leaving after seven innings with a 5-2 lead. Six days earlier, Sabathia had a complete game 3-1 win over Texas when he allowed just four hits.
Palmeiro, in his second game since hitting No. 499 on Thursday, went 0-for-3. He walked in the eighth after Juan Gonzalez and Herbert Perry had consecutive doubles for a run.
In his first three at-bats, Palmeiro led off innings against Sabathia. He had a short flyout, a lineout and a groundout and is now 2-for-12 with no homers in his career against Sabathia. The walk came off Carl Sadler, who didn't face any other hitters.
Danys Baez got five outs for his sixth save in eight chances.
Omar Vizquel, coming off a four-hit game Friday, added two more hits and drove in two runs for the Indians. Cleveland (11-24) has won four of five this season against Texas.
Vizquel hit an RBI double in the third that tied the game at 1-1. His run-scoring single an inning later came as the Indians went ahead to stay with four runs off Alan Benes (0-1).
Texas acquired Benes from the Chicago Cubs on Friday for a player to be named. Ismael Valdes and Chan Ho Park, the top two Rangers starters, are on the disabled list.
The first three Cleveland hitters reached in the fourth, including Josh Bard's infield single that drove in a run. After finally getting an out, Benes gave up an RBI single to Brandon Phillips and his AL debut was done.
Benes gave up five runs -- four earned -- and six hits over 3 1/3 innings. Benes had made three appearances for the Cubs this season and pitched in 111 games for St. Louis and Chicago since 1995.
Vizquel's RBI single came off reliever Todd Van Poppel. Third baseman Mark Teixeira then made an error, allowing another run for a 5-1 score.
The Rangers got a run back in the fifth on Alex Rodriguez's RBI single, and had two on with two outs when right fielder Jody Gerut made a runs-saving catch.
Gerut had to run a long way to catch up to Herbert Perry's flyball that was going away from him. Gerut lunged and caught the ball with his glove only inches off the ground before sliding several feet on the gravel track along the right-field line.
Sabathia then retired the last eight batters he faced.
Rodriguez had an RBI double in the first to give Texas a 1-0 lead.
Notes: Former POW Ronald Green, the cousin of Texas catcher Todd Greene, spent the day with the Rangers. Wearing a full uniform, he took part in pregame workouts, threw out the first pitch and then sat in the dugout during the game. ... It was the first Indians win on a Saturday this season. They were 0-5, including the previous Saturday against Texas.
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