ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cleveland Indians are resetting their goals for the final two weeks of the season.

Fausto Carmona reacts between pitches to the Texas Rangers in the first inning last night. (AP photos.)

Fausto Carmona, far from the All-Star season he had a year ago, gave up six runs over six innings and the Indians lost 7-4 to the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, wrapping up a three-game series sweep.

That cut Detroit’s magic number for clinching the AL Central to one.

“All you can think is you failed to achieve your goal, which is to win the division,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “You play to win the division. So you get your head up, play for second place or above .500. You have to shift gears and have another goal.”

Cleveland (72-75) and the Chicago White Sox (73-76), who lost earlier at Kansas City, are fighting for second place in the AL Central. The Indians have a three-game series at Minnesota before going home for a makeup game Monday against Seattle and then four games against the White Sox.

“All we can do is keep showing up and try to win as many games as we can. We have to finish this season with pride,” second baseman Jason Kipnis said.

“We know we could have been playing better. … Nobody on this team enjoys losing. It’s not time to start now. We’ll battle the rest of the way and finish with our heads held high.”

The Rangers led 1-0 with one out in the fifth before Cleveland opted to walk reigning AL MVP Josh Hamilton to load the bases.

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Michael Young then delivered a three-run double to go over 100 RBIs for the second time in his career, and Adrian Beltre immediately followed with a two-run homer for a 6-0 lead.

“I don’t take those things personally. I just try to focus on my job,” Young said. “At that point we’re really making sure we’re trying to push one across. I was just trying to get something to the outfield, worst-case scenario sacrifice fly scores a run.”

Texas (86-64) moved 22 games over .500 for the first time since 1999, and now plays nine of its final 12 games on the road, starting Friday night at Seattle. The Rangers extended their division lead over the idle Los Angeles Angels to 3 1/2 games.

Hamilton hit his 22nd homer in the seventh. He went deep in all three games of the series, including a grand slam Wednesday.

Carmona (6-15) is 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA over his last six starts. Against the Rangers, the right-hander struck out three and walked five while giving up seven hits and five earned runs over six innings.

“Carmona was overthrowing. He didn’t have good sink,” Acta said. “The ball was going side to side. He had one real bad inning and that ended up hurting him.”

Shin-Soo Choo was back in the Indians’ lineup after being activated from the disabled list, but reaggravated his strained left oblique on a swing when he batted in the first. Acta said Choo is done for the season.

Alexi Ogando (13-8) allowed only two singles while throwing six scoreless innings. The All-Star right-hander struck out four and walked two while winning for the first time in a month. He had been 0-3 in five starts since his last win Aug. 15 at the Angels.

The Indians failed to take advantage when they loaded the bases and forced Ogando to throw 39 pitches in the second inning. That is when Ogando had both of his walks, gave up a single and there was a fielder’s choice before Lonnie Chisenhall and Lou Marson both struck out.

“That was our best chance. We had him on the ropes there,” Acta said. “He was a little bit divorced from the strike zone, bases loaded, but we chased some pitches out of the strike zone. It could have been a moment where we chased him out of the game but we couldn’t take advantage of it.”

Ogando faced the minimum three batters the other five innings he pitched, getting Ezequiel Carrera to ground into an inning-ending double play after Kipnis singled in the sixth.

Ogando had already thrown 52 pitches after two innings, then needed only 40 to get through the next four innings.

Shelley Duncan had a bloop RBI single with two outs in the seventh off Darren Oliver for the Indians’ first run. Carrera had an RBI single in the eighth and Cleveland scored twice in the ninth off closer Neftali Feliz, who was getting some work after last pitching Saturday.

Notes

• The Indians were 1-9 against Texas this season and were outscored 68-32. Texas has won 21 of 25 in the series over the past three seasons.
• Andrus has hit in all 23 of his career games against Cleveland.
• Texas had only nine hits, ending its club-record streak of consecutive 12-hit games at seven.
• Actor Jonah Hill, a co-star in the upcoming movie “Moneyball,” threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
• Texas is 49-29 at home.

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cleveland Indians head into the final 16 games of the regular season out of the playoff race and pointing toward next season.

Designated hitter Shelley Duncan reacts after striking out against the Rangers yesterday. (AP photo.)

At least they expect to have outfielder Shin-Soo Choo back in the lineup for Thursday night’s series finale against the Texas Rangers.

The Indians lost for the seventh time in nine games when they were routed by the Texas Rangers 9-1 on Wednesday night.

Choo has been on the 15-day DL since Sept. 1 with a left oblique strain. He’s been limited by injuries to 84 games after a 22-homer, 90-RBI season in 2010.

Choo, Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore have all missed long stretches this season because of injuries, hampering the Indians’ efforts to catch the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.

“It’s been a challenge not having him and Grady and Travis,” manager Manny Acta said. “It’s a credit to our pitching staff because they kept us afloat most of the season. But we’ll continue to have in the back of our head what would have happened.”

The pitching hasn’t been there for the Indians the last two nights as Texas outscored Cleveland, 19-5. Texas had an eight-run fourth on Wednesday night capped by Josh Hamilton’s third career grand slam.

Rangers starter Derek Holland (14-5) took care of the rest with seven effective innings.

“When you pitch in the mid-90s and pitch inside like he does, you have a chance to succeed,” Acta said.

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Indians rookie starter David Huff (2-5) allowed eight runs — although only three were earned due to a fielding error in the fourth by third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall on Ian Kinsler’s two-out grounder — and seven hits in four innings.

Huff’s only other appearance against the Rangers came on April 15 this season, and it was much better. He tossed his only career complete game, a four-hitter in a 3-2 victory in Cleveland.

“Both times, I tried to be aggressive,” Huff said. “Last time I was consistent hitting my spot with the fastball. This time, not so much. I left some pitches up and over the middle and they definitely took advantage.”

The Rangers are 10-1 against the Indians over the last two seasons.

“That’s what a team that was in the World Series last year looks like, a team that will probably win their division,” Acta said. “We have some catching up to do.”

Chisenhall’s homer accounted for his team’s only run.

Cleveland’s Shelley Duncan made two leaping catches at the wall in left field in the first inning to rob Elvis Andrus and Hamilton of extra-base hits. Then in the second inning, he made a similar catch in the same area to deny Michael Young extra bases.

“Weird, to say the least,” Acta said of three standout catches in a short span by a player not known for his defense. “For three balls to go in the same spot in the first four outs, you’re never done seeing new things in baseball. He made good plays on those balls.”

But in the fourth, Duncan was unable to flag down Young’s double into the left field corner that scored Hamilton, who was on first with a leadoff walk.

One out later, Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer, a 420-foot two-run drive that landed on the grass hitting background in center field. Andrus’ infield single knocked in the fourth run of the inning. Hamilton followed with his grand slam on Huff’s 1-2 fastball to complete the eight-run outburst.

Huff said the pitch to Hamilton “was supposed to be a fastball down and away and I left it over the middle belt high. He doesn’t miss very many like that. You don’t keep the ball down, you suffer.”

Notes

• The Rangers will start RHP Alexi Ogando (12-8) in Thursday night’s series finale against Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona (6-14).
• Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco had reconstructive surgery to repair a ligament in his right elbow. Recovery time is estimated at 12 to 18 months.

LORAIN — His legs cramping in the scorching Afghanistan heat, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Hall volunteered to sweep for bombs around an abandoned compound in Helmand Province on Aug. 31, 2009.

From left, Lance Cpl. David Hall’s parents, Lulu and Delmar Hall, at the podium, sisters Wendy Dull, Tracey “Terasa” Holmes and Lora Hall attend a ceremony that revealed a sign in his honor. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)

Hall knew the area around the compound might be booby trapped, but if the Marines couldn’t find a water pump in the compound, two members of Golf Company who had collapsed from heat exhaustion might die. Those two Marines survived, but Hall didn’t.

“My legs are cramped bad, but I’ll go,” were among Hall’s last words before he was killed by a bomb, according to a journal entry from fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Chris Ventura. “Then he looked at me and said, ‘Ventura, reach in my pack and grab my sweeper.’ ”

Click here to view more photos.

Hall’s sister, Lora Hall, on Tuesday read from the journal during a ceremony dedicating a stretch of Interstate 90 west and state Route 2 east in Lorain as David R. Hall Highway. Hall’s family wiped away tears as one of the signs was unveiled during the ceremony at Lakeview Park.

Lora Hall, 41, said her brother’s fateful decision typified his courage and selflessness. Hall was not a gung-ho teenager when he enlisted in 2006. At 28, he had a well-paying job at the Ford plant in Avon Lake and knew the risks.

The Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq — where Hall served his first tour of duty training Iraqi police — was full blown when he enlisted and President George W. Bush was about to escalate American involvement. Lora Hall recalled begging her brother to reconsider.

“I said, ‘David, do you understand you could be dead in a year?’” she said. “His only response to me was, ‘This is something I have to do.’ ”

After surviving Iraq, Hall deployed to Afghanistan in June 2009 as part of President Barack Obama’s escalation of the war. Hall’s father, Delmar Hall, said his son believed he was making Afghanistan safer for Afghans, but Americans were increasingly at risk.

“He told me, ‘Dad, this is a big surge,’” said Delmar Hall, 60. “I don’t know if I’m going to make it back or not.”

Since his death, family members said they’ve tried to cope by remembering Hall’s Christian beliefs and positivism.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you,” said Hall’s sister, Terasa “Tracy” Holmes, 41. “I know that you’re guiding me, pushing me, prodding me, everything that you need to do with my stubborn self.”

Hall was one of 1,657 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan through Tuesday morning. With the Afghan government mired in corruption and the Taliban resurgent as the war approaches its 10th anniversary next month, Lora Hall said she understands why polls show the majority of Americans support rapid withdrawal. Hall’s mother, Lula Hall, is among them.

“I’m torn, because after losing him I just wonder if the war is doing any good,” said Lulu Hall, 60. “The war’s been going on long enough.”

Nonetheless, Lora Hall believes abruptly leaving an unstable Afghanistan would negate her brother’s sacrifice.

“Tell me how we’ve won, not when we’re going to leave,” Lora Hall said. “Because my brother’s life was sacrificed for that mission.”

Community service

U.S. Marine U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Hall’s family is organizing a volunteer effort to refurbish a park on Fairless Drive in Lorain near Southview Middle School. Volunteers will be asked to donate at least four hours time and can sign up through a website that goes online Sunday.

For more information, email Lora Hall at lhall@ieduglobal.com or visit http://serveloraincounty.org.

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.