ARLINGTON, Texas â The Rangers shuffled their lineup before Saturday's game, but it was their pitching that let them down in an 8-3 loss to the Indians.
Starter Nick Tepesch scuffled for 5 1/3 innings but gave up a three-run homer to the final batter he faced, Cleveland's No. 9 hitter Yan Gomes.
"They were making me work a little bit," said Tepesch, who threw 88 pitches. "I felt like I made some pretty good pitches, but really that one bad pitch right there got me."
Robbie Ross, Jr. relieved Tepesch and was charged with three runs.
Then reliever Tanner Scheppers gave up a two-run shot to Carlos Santana, the No. 8 hitter. The two multi-run homers were more than enough to overcome a struggling Rangers lineup.
After winning two of his first three starts, Tepesch has lost consecutive starts. He gave up eight hits, three of them in the sixth inning when Gomes' homer broke up a 1-1 game.
"I thought he (Tepesch) did a good job except for the curveball he threw to Gomes and he hit it out," Washington said. "I mean, he got us into the sixth inning with one out, so that was pretty good to me."
It was also pretty good to Tepesch, who said he commanded his pitchers better Saturday, particularly down in the strike zone.
"I made a few good pitches and they did a good job of hitting and got them over somebody or found a hole," Tepesch said. "That's what you're trying to do when you're hitting, is take those good pitches a pitcher gives you and do anything you can with them."
The Rangers, on the other hand, couldn't do much with Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin, who gave up seven hits over eight innings.
Washington moved Shin-Soo Choo from his normal leadoff role to the No. 3 spot in the batting order. The idea was to strengthen the middle of the lineup while taking some of the pressure off Mitch Moreland, who dropped from third to sixth in the order.
Rookie Michael Choice assumed the leadoff spot and went 0-for-4. Choo also went 0-for-4, as did Moreland.
The little offense the Rangers generated started with a sacrifice fly by Elvis Andrus in the third inning.
Andrus singled in the sixth to give him a hit in all 39 games he's played against the Indians. That gave Andrus sole possession of the second-longest personal hitting streak against an individual team. Former Ranger Vladimir Guerrero holds the record with a 44-game streak against the Rangers from his time with the Angels.
Adrian Beltre drove in Andrus with a double, then Beltre scored on a wild pitch.
Former Ranger David Murphy was 3-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and a run scored. It was Murphy's sixth game with three or more hits since signing with Cleveland in the offseason.
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
