Elvis Andrus collected four hits and Adrian Beltre delivered a two-run home run, lifting the Texas Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels Monday night in Anaheim, eliminating the Halos from the postseason. The Angels had a razor-thin margin of error, as heading into Monday's game, they needed to sweep the Rangers and hope both the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays lost their final two games.
The best case scenario for the Halos was a three-team playoff that would have begun with the Angels heading to Boston on Thursday, with the winner hosting Tampa Bay on Friday.
The Angels were down 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, and pulled to within one, putting the tying run on base with two outs in the form of Peter Bourjos, but Neftali Feliz was able to retire Howie Kendrick to close out the game.
Dan Haren allowed four runs in eight innings to take the loss. He finished his 2011 campaign with a 16-10 record and 3.17 ERA, setting career highs in wins, innings pitched (238 1/3) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.82). Haren ended with 192 strikeouts and 33 walks in 34 starts this season.
C.J. Wilson started for the Rangers, but he only pitched two innings as a tune-up for Saturday's start in Game 1 of the ALDS. Five relief pitchers combined to pitch the final seven innings.
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