Cleveland @ Texas preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 7, 2011 ) Cleveland 3, Texas 5

THE STORY: The Texas Rangers have dominated the Cleveland Indians this season. They'd like to continue that trend as they open a three-game home series against the Indians on Tuesday night. The Rangers are 6-1 against the Indians this season, sweeping a four-game series at Progressive Field in June and taking two of three at home in August. Texas won two of three at home from Oakland last weekend. The Indians, who are in the middle leg of a 10-game trip, split four games in Chicago.

TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), FSSW (Texas)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Justin Masterson (11-9, 3.01 ERA) vs. Rangers LH Matt Harrison (11-9, 3.50 ERA).

Masterson has pitched better than his record would indicate, but he might be running out of steam. He has given up at least four runs in three of his past four starts and couldn't hold a pair of two-run leads in his last outing against Detroit. Masterson lost to Texas on June 3 when he allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings, dropping him to 0-3 against the Rangers in his career. Josh Hamilton is 6-for-9 with a home run lifetime against Masterson.

Harrison allowed two runs in seven innings in beating Boston at Fenway Park in his last start. He struggled in August, winning only once in six starts. Harrison is 0-2 in his career against the Indians going into his first start versus Cleveland this season. Left-handed hitters are batting .299 with five home runs against him in 2011. Jim Thome is 4-for-10 with three doubles lifetime in his career against Harrison.

ABOUT THE INDIANS (72-72): Grady Sizemore is 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts in four games since returning from the disabled list on Sept. 5. The Indians hoped he would give their struggling offense a boost, but that hasn't happened. Three stints on the DL have limited Sizemore to 65 games this season, in which he is batting .223 with 82 strikeouts in 247 at-bats. This is the third straight season Sizemore has missed significant time because of injuries. The Indians hold an $8.5 million club option on him for next season.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (83-64): Nelson Cruz could be activated before Tuesday's game. He's been on the disabled list since Aug. 30 with a pulled left hamstring. Cruz's return comes at a good time for the Rangers as they try to hang on to first place in the American League West, up three games on the second-place L.A. Angels. Cruz is batting .270 with 28 home runs and 84 RBIs. Cruz won't be 100 percent and will have to be cautious playing right field and running the bases. He likely won't play every day since he didn't go on a minor-league rehab assignment, but having his bat in the lineup will be important for the final three weeks.

FINAL PITCH: The Rangers and Indians played a hard-fought series last month. All three games were decided in the winning team's final at-bat.