CLEVELAND — Hobbling on a sore hamstring, Adrian Beltre hit the ball so far all he had to do was jog.
Beltre belted a three-run pinch-hit homer in the 11th inning to help lift the Texas Rangers to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night.
Beltre didn’t start for the fourth straight game, then drove a 1-0 pitch from Joe Smith (1-1) 456 feet over the center-field wall for his fifth homer, snapping Texas’ three-game losing streak.
“We needed that,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “This is the biggest win we’ve had all year. We’ve been spinning our wheels.”
Alexi Ogando (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings and Joe Nathan worked the 11th for his seventh save in eight tries.
Asdrubal Cabrera had four hits for Cleveland, which had a three-game winning streak stopped.
It was Beltre’s third career pinch homer — first in nearly 12 years. He also did it in 1998 and 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Friday night, Beltre’s bid for a two-run pinch homer was thwarted by a leaping catch at the right-field wall by Shin-Soo Choo for the final out of Cleveland’s 6-3 win.
With Beltre on deck, Indians manager Manny Acta visited the mound and told the right-handed Smith to intentionally walk lefty hitter Mitch Moreland with a runner on second and two outs. Lefty Tony Sipp was ready in the Cleveland bullpen.
“It was my decision,” Acta said. “I don’t second-guess myself. Some will work. Some will not. I’ll sleep fine.”
Acta was miffed that the Indians failed to turn a double play earlier in the inning.
“You can’t give a team like that extra outs,” Acta said after shortstop Cabrera dropped a ball instead of throwing to first as he leaped to avoid a hard-sliding Craig Gentry, who had been forced.
Washington had been seeking a spot to bat Beltre in the late innings.
“It would do no good for him to get on with a single, because then I’d have to use a pinch runner,” Washington said. “I needed a runner in scoring position to use him.
“I sent him up (to on-deck circle) when Manny went to the mound. It wasn’t a decoy. Beltre was going to hit, no matter if they walked Mitch or if they made a change.”
Smith knew Beltre was hitless in five previous at-bats against him.
“The boy can hit,” Smith said. “That’s for sure. You gotta bring your game when you face him. You leave a fastball up in the zone, apparently he doesn’t miss those.”
Beltre wasn’t particularly eager to face the sidearmer.
“I knew I didn’t hit him well,” Beltre said. “I didn’t feel comfortable against him. He threw a slider for a ball and then I was looking for something middle-away and got it.
“It was a nice feeling going around the bases. We’ve had a tough stretch lately. To get a win feels pretty good.”
Shut out for seven innings by Derek Holland, the Indians chased the left-hander and rallied to tie it at 2 in the eighth.
With one out, Michael Brantley singled and went to third on Jason Kipnis’ single. Washington called on Mike Adams for the 13th time this season, but first with runners on base. Adams promptly yielded an RBI double to Cabrera.
Kipnis then scored from third when catcher Mike Napoli failed to handle a tailing fastball that went off his glove and to the backstop for a passed ball.
“Adams did a good job, but a little mix-up there hurt,” Washington said.
Holland, who had a five-hit shutout at Progressive Field on June 4, gave up five hits, one earned run and struck out six over 7 1-3 innings.
Texas took a 1-0 lead in the second as Ian Kinsler topped a slow roller for a two-out RBI single, scoring Napoli from third. Moreland’s RBI double in the fourth made it 2-0.
Indians starter Derek Lowe went six innings, giving up nine hits, two runs and two walks. Several of the hits were on grounders just out of the reach of infielders.
Holland got two highlight-reel plays from his infielders.
Third baseman Alberto Gonzalez, filling in for Beltre, robbed Kipnis in the sixth with a diving backhanded catch of a line drive.
In the seventh, shortstop Elvis Andrus ranged far to his backhand to get a grounder by Jack Hannahan. Andrus leaped into the air and threw a one-hopper that was scooped out by Michael Young at first to finish the inning.
Hannahan turned the tables in the eighth, diving to his left to stop a hard smash by Nelson Cruz. His throw just beat Cruz, who tumbled over the first-base bag.
Notes: The homer was just the second allowed by Smith since 2010 and first he ever gave up in extra innings. … Andrus’s first-inning single gave him a hit in all 25 games he has played against the Indians in his career. … Cleveland will recall RHP Zach McAllister from Triple-A Columbus on Monday to pitch one of the games of a day-night doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. … Cleveland acquired minor-league RHP Loek Van Mil from the Los Angeles Angels for cash. The Indians assigned the 7-foot-1, 255-pound native of The Netherlands to Double-A Akron.
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