ARLINGTON, Texas — Backup infielder Andres Blanco is among five players that the American League champion Texas Rangers outrighted off their 40-man roster after each cleared waivers.

The Rangers also outrighted infielder Esteban German and right-handers Omar Beltre, Eric Hurley and Merkin Valdez on Wednesday.

Blanco wasn’t on the postseason roster after missing six weeks during the season because of two stints on the disabled list with back problems.

Right-hander Darren O’Day was claimed on waivers by the Baltimore Orioles, who put the pitcher on their roster.

With the moves, Texas has 32 players on its 40-man roster.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Where: Rangers Ballpark at Arlington.

When: Tuesday through Thursday.

TV/radio: SportsTime Ohio for all three games, ESPN Wednesday; WTAM AM/1100.

Pitching matchups: Justin Masterson (11-9, 3.01) vs. LHP Matt Harrison (11-9, 3.50) Tuesday at 8:05 p.m.; LHP David Huff (2-4, 3.05) vs. LHP Derek Holland (13-5, 4.12) Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. and RHP Fausto Carmona (6-15, 5.18) vs. RHP Alexi Ogando (12-8, 3.71) Thursday at 8:05 p.m.

Season series: The Indians are 1-6 against Texas. Texas leads, 231-188, overall.

Indians update: Just split a four-game series with Chicago, but have lost seven of their last 11. They’re hitting .202 (47-for-233) as a team against the Rangers and have been outscored, 42-23. Frank Herrmann is the only Tribe pitcher to beat the Rangers this year.

Rangers update: They’ve won six of their last 10, but can’t shake the second-place Angels in the AL West. Rangers are hitting .294 (75-for-255) against the Indians and Elvis Andrus at .414 (12-for-29) with nine RBI is one of the reasons. Holland and Ogando are each 1-0 against the Tribe this year.

Injuries: Indians – RHP Josh Tomlin (right elbow), OF Michael Brantley (right hand), RHP Carlos Carrasco (right elbow), OF Trevor Crowe (right shoulder) and OF Shin-Soo Choo (left side) are on the disabled list. 3B Jack Hannahan (left calf) is day to day. Rangers: OF Julio Borbon (left ankle), OF Nelson Cruz (left hamstring), RHP Darren O’Day (right shoulder), RHP Mason Tobin (right elbow), RHP Brandon Wells (right shoulder) are on the disabled list. Cruz could be activated Tuesday.

Next: Indians start 10-game trip Thursday with four-game series against White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington stood up from his office chair and started wildly shak-ing his knees back and forth.

While exaggerating how nervous he might be about the AL West race with the Los Angeles Angels, the division-leading manager and his team know things will be much tighter down the stretch this season.

They already are.

“Think about it. If you’ve got a seven-game lead, of course you’re more comfortable,” Washington said after set-tling back into his chair. “But that doesn’t mean that panic sets in.”

Texas (76-59) took a three-game lead into its off day Monday, after playing 17 consecutive days with only one other break since Aug. 1. There are 27 regular-season games left, the last three at Los Angeles in four weeks.

“They’re not going away. They’re a good team. Everybody knows that,” second baseman Ian Kinsler said. “We didn’t expect them to do that last year, it was just kind of luck of the draw.”

At the same point last season before the Rangers won their first AL pennant, they had an eight-game division lead. That never got smaller than seven and they clinched the division title with eight games left.

The Rangers found out Monday they will be without slugging right fielder Nelson Cruz for about three weeks be-cause of another hamstring injury. An MRI revealed a grade 1 strain for Cruz, who got hurt running out a double in Sunday night’s 9-5 victory over Los Angeles.

Cruz missed 51 games last season because of three different stints on the disabled list with issues with both ham-strings. He was on the DL for 17 games earlier this year because of a right quadriceps strain.

Texas went through most of the final month of the regular season last year without AL MVP Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, though both got back for the playoffs.

Before rallying Sunday night against Angels ace Jered Weaver, Texas had lost seven of 10 games. The division gap would have been trimmed to a single game without that comeback.

Their losing stretch began with a 2-1 loss at Los Angeles on Aug. 18, when Texas was three outs away from a four-game sweep and a season-high division lead of eight games. But Mark Trumbo hit a game-ending two-run homer.

“We had a hiccup, had some bumps in our starting rotation, had some things out the bullpen that didn’t work. We had some days where we didn’t put the runs on the board,” Washington said. “It happens. Every team in the game is going through it. We just hit it right now.”

At the same time, the Angeles had a season-best six-game winning streak. They won seven of eight before their last scheduled game at Rangers Ballpark this season.

The Rangers have been alone atop the AL West since July 6, when they were early in a 12-game winning streak.

Boston took three of four at Texas in a potential playoff preview last week. The Red Sox lost the opener 4-0, but then won 11-5, 13-2 and 6-0. The Rangers rebounded to win two of three against Los Angeles.

The Rangers go to Fenway Park this weekend after wrapping up their 10-game homestand with three against Tampa Bay. Texas plays 15 of its last 27 games on the road.

“We’ve been grinding, battling lately,” Young said. “We’ll gladly take this off day and get ready for the last stretch. We like where we’re at. We’ve been down this road before so we know what it takes to win.”

Young, the longest-tenured Ranger in his 11th season, asked to be traded last winter when the team acquired All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre and said the plan was to use Young primarily as a designated hitter. Young stayed and has responded with one of his best seasons.

As of Monday, Young was second in the majors with a .336 batting average and 11th with his team-best 87 RBIs.

With Beltre missing the last 35 games because of a left hamstring injury, Young has been mostly at third base.

Beltre was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment for Triple-A Round Rock on Monday, and could be back before the Rangers go to Boston this weekend.

Hamilton and Elvis Andrus snapped out of extended slumps with three hits each Sunday night. A pitch after An-drus had an RBI triple, Hamilton hit a tying two-run homer. Hamilton later drove home the go-ahead run with a single in the seventh.

“Our team, we like our position for sure,” Andrus said. “We have way more experience. Everybody, including myself and our pitching, is much different. We see a lot of good things, a lot of positive things. We just have to con-tinue to play hard.”

After that much-needed break before the stretch.

– Stephen Hawkins

Rangers’ Cruz expected out 3 weeks with hamstring

ARLINGTON — Texas slugger Nelson Cruz is expected to miss about three weeks with another hamstring injury.

The AL West-leading Rangers said an MRI on Monday revealed a grade 1 strain of Cruz’s left hamstring. The right fielder will get an injection from team physician Dr. Keith Meister that is intended to stimulate the healing process.

Cruz got hurt when running out a double in Sunday night’s 9-5 victory over the chasing Los Angeles Angles.

Cruz missed 51 games last season because of three stints on the disabled list with issues with both hamstrings. He was on the DL for 17 games earlier this year because of a strained right quadriceps muscle.

In 113 games this season, Cruz is hitting .270 with a team-leading 28 home runs and 84 RBIs.

The Rangers were off Monday, but were expected to add another outfielder before Tuesday’s game against Tampa Bay. The addition could be Cuban outfielder Leonys Martin from Triple-A Round Rock.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Texas Rangers have activated outfielder Julio Borbon from the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock.

Borbon, the Rangers’ starting center fielder when the season began, had been out since mid-May because of a pulled hamstring. He was batting .270 with 10 runs scored and six stolen bases in 32 games. Borbon completed a minor league rehabiliation assignment this week.

Borbon started 137 games and batted .276 last season as Texas won the AL championship.

The emergence of Endy Chavez, who was batting .415 going into Friday night’s game against Cleveland, pushed Borbon out of a roster spot. Chavez was 4 for 4, tying a career high in hits, in Thursday’s 7-4 win over the Indians.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.