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.’ ”

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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.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Maybe Justin Masterson is wearing down with his unprecedented workload for the Cleveland Indians.

Starting pitcher Justin Masterson delivers to the Texas Rangers Tuesday. (AP photo.)

Or, like so many other pitchers, maybe the right-hander just couldn’t get it done against the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.

Whichever the case, Masterson extended his late-season slide by allowing six runs and eight hits while pitching only one batter into the sixth inning on a 100-degree night in a 10-4 loss at Texas on Tuesday.

David Murphy homered twice and Josh Hamilton went deep against Masterson (11-10), who made his career-high 31st start and has already thrown a career-high 2051⁄3 innings this season. He is 1-3 with a 5.85 ERA over his last five starts, pushing his season ERA to 3.20, the highest it has been since the first week of June.

“Give credit to them,” Masterson said. “They hit a couple good balls. David Murphy was hot tonight. I made some decent pitches and they hit ’em. They’re a good lineup. Any lineup in this park can be tough. For me, I didn’t get ahead or have command of the strike zone. They were sniffing out heaters and I come with a lot of heaters. When you don’t hit your spots well, they’ll make you pay for it.”

Switch-hitting catcher Carlos Santana homered twice, becoming the first Indians batter since Victor Martinez on June 1, 2007, to go deep from both sides of the plate. It was also the seventh time a Cleveland batter accomplished the feat.

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Santana added a double between his homers, completing that at-bat after fouling a pitch hard off his left shin and needing a couple of minutes to gather himself.

“He stayed in the game,” manager Manny Acta said. “He’ll be sore tomorrow, but he’s playing first base. He made a couple good swings after that. He’s OK.”

After Santana homered from the right side off Harrison in the fourth, the Indians tied the game at 2 an inning later when Kosuke Fukudome singled and scored on a double by Jason Kipnis.

Santana had his first career multihomer game, and his 23rd homer of the season, after going deep off right-hander Mark Lowe in the eighth.

Masterson gave up six runs and eight hits with two strikeouts and three walks.

Matt Harrison (12-9) gave up three runs on seven hits while pitching into the sixth inning in his first start in nine days. The left-hander struck out four and walked one.

The last batter Masterson faced was Murphy, who led off the sixth with a slow roller up the first-base line. Masterson fielded the ball and weakly flipped it toward the bag as Murphy reached on an infield single.

That was the start of a four-run outburst off Masterson and two relievers. Craig Gentry had a pinch-hit two-run single and Andrus a two-run double.

“We had a rough time putting up zeros. When a club scores five of eight tries, it’s gonna hurt you,” Acta said. “The long ball hurt Justin tonight.”

Murphy already had both of his homers, his 10th and 11th of the season, before Hamilton hit a scorching liner off into the right-center field seats by the Texas bullpen for a 4-2 lead in the fifth.

Adrian Beltre extended his hitting streak to 17 games, matching a career high, when he led off the seventh with a 411-foot blast.

His 24th homer of the season came as the first major league batter faced by right-hander Zach Putnam, who then gave up a double to Murphy and a run-scoring single to Mike Napoli before finally recording an out.

“Putnam got a rude welcome to the big leagues right off the bat,” Acta said. “But he bounced back and threw some good split-fingers. Rude welcome from Beltre.”

Notable

• Texas is 7-1 against Cleveland this season.
• Cleveland is the only AL team that doesn’t have an off day the final two weeks of the regular season. The Indians had their last scheduled off day Monday.
• Ian Kinsler extended his Rangers record with his 24th consecutive stolen base without getting caught. He was promptly picked off at second base, though that doesn’t affect his still-active streak.