CLEVELAND – Johnny Damon was signed to give the Cleveland Indians a bit of a jolt.
 
Turns out, the Indians’ young players have provided the 38-year-old outfielder with a lift, too.
 
Damon hit a two-run triple in his first home game for Cleveland and Jeanmar Gomez pitched seven strong innings to lead the Indians over the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Friday night.
 
“I love my role, which is to still contribute and play, but help my team develop, too,” Damon said. “It’s great to be with a team that’s hungry to win, hungry to get to a World Series, ready to go all-out every game. In just a couple days, these young guys have helped give me new life, too.”
 
Gomez (2-1), one of those youngsters at 24 years old, gave up seven hits and three runs as Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games. Texas has lost five of seven, but the two-time AL champions still lead the West Division.
 
“Gomez was terrific against such a great lineup,” Indians manager Manny Acta said.
 
Shin-Soo Choo and Jack Hannahan homered off Colby Lewis (3-1) to help Cleveland take an early lead.
 
Damon’s drive in the seventh off the wall in center was nearly caught by Josh Hamilton, who returned to the Rangers’ lineup after missing three games with a sore back.
 
Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his 10th consecutive save. He is perfect since blowing the save in the season opener April 5.
 
“Right now, he’s in a zone,” Acta said. “He’s going right after guys.”
 
The game ended with Choo making a leaping catch at the right-field wall to snare a drive off the bat of pinch-hitter Adrian Beltre with a runner on first.
 
Damon went 1 for 4, though Hamilton nearly made a sensational catch of his drive just as he crashed into the wall. Casey Kotchman and Hannahan scored as Damon got to third base and clapped his hands after putting Cleveland ahead 6-3.
 
“I was good to give us some insurance,” Damon said. “No lead is too big for that team. Fortunately, (Hamilton) didn’t make that play. I’ve seen him make that catch.”
 
Acta was impressed with Damon’s hustle around the bases for the standup triple.
 
“I think this guy was doing that before most of our guys signed a professional contract,” Acta said of Damon, who was a rookie in 1995. “He’s in tremendous shape.”
 
Texas manager Ron Washington second-guessed himself for letting Lewis face Damon with left-hander Robbie Ross warming up in the bullpen.
 
“Colby had gotten him out all day,” Washington said. “I was one batter late. I’ll take the blame for that.”
 
Damon admitted he wasn’t comfortable early against the right-hander.
 
“The first three times up, I had lazy swings,” Damon said after driving on 0-1 curveball 400 feet to center.
 
“I don’t think I had thrown one (curve) to him all day,” Lewis said. “I had made him swing at a lot of bad pitches, good pitches for me in the first three at-bats. He made it happen when he needed to make it happen.”
 
Choo’s two-run homer made it 2-0 in the second. The 414-foot drive to center snapped an 0-for-14 slump and was his first homer since Aug. 23.
 
Texas, which had won 11 of its previous 12 games at Progressive Field, scored in the third on a sacrifice fly by Ian Kinsler.
 
Hannahan made it 3-1 in the bottom half with his second homer, which originally appeared to be a standup triple. His drive down the right-field line caromed off the wall and by the time right fielder Nelson Cruz tracked it down, Hannahan was standing on third.
 
Acta argued and plate umpire Dale Scott and his crew went to look at TV replays, which showed the ball hit above the yellow line atop the wall. Scott signaled homer, the crowd roared, and Hannahan trotted home.
 
David Murphy’s RBI double in the fourth got Texas within 3-2.
 
The Rangers tied it in the sixth. Michael Young blooped a double to right, moved up on Murphy’s long fly ball to center and scored on Cruz’s single to left, which broke his 0-for-14 slide.
 
Lewis allowed six runs and 10 hits over 6 2-3 innings, snapping his personal six-game winning streak since Sept. 9. That was the longest active streak in the AL.
 
Notes: Texas has lost three straight for the first time since Aug. 23-25. … Rangers SS Elvis Andrus went 1 for 4. He has hit safely in all 24 of his career games against Cleveland. … Washington pushed RHP Neftali Perez’s next start to Tuesday at Baltimore, saying he wants to keep the other starters, Lewis, Derek Holland, Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison on their regular turn. … Perez said a season-ending knee injury to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera won’t keep him from shagging fly balls during batting practice. “It’s a shame that’s how he got hurt, but it won’t stop me,” Perez said. “I love it. It makes me feel like a (regular) player.” … Cleveland traded OF Ryan Spilborghs to the Rangers, who assigned him to Triple-A Round Rock.

CLEVELAND — Johnny Damon was signed to give the Cleveland Indians a bit of a jolt.

Turns out, the Indians’ young players have provided the 38-year-old outfielder with a lift, too.

Damon hit a two-run triple in his first home game for Cleveland and Jeanmar Gomez pitched seven strong innings Friday to lead the Indians past the Texas Rangers 6-3.

“I love my role, which is to still contribute and play, but help my team develop, too,” Damon said. “It’s great to be with a team that’s hungry to win, hungry to get to a World Series, ready to go all-out every game. In just a couple days, these young guys have helped give me new life, too.”

Gomez (2-1), one of those youngsters at 24 years old, allowed seven hits and three runs as Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games. Texas has lost five of seven, but the two-time AL champions still lead the West Division.

“Gomez was terrific against such a great lineup,” Indians manager Manny Acta said.

Shin-Soo Choo and Jack Hannahan homered against Colby Lewis (3-1) to help Cleveland take an early lead.

Damon’s drive in the seventh off the wall in center almost was caught by Josh Hamilton, who returned to the Rangers’ lineup after missing three games with a sore back.

Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his 10th consecutive save. He is perfect since blowing the save in the season opener April 5.

“Right now, he’s in a zone,” Acta said. “He’s going right after guys.”

The game ended with Choo making a leaping catch at the right-field wall to grab a drive off the bat of pinch-hitter Adrian Beltre with a runner on first.

Damon went 1-for-4, but Hamilton almost made a sensational catch of his drive just as he crashed into the wall. Casey Kotchman and Hannahan scored as Damon got to third base to put Cleveland ahead 6-3.

“I was good to give us some insurance,” Damon said. “No lead is too big for that team. Fortunately, (Hamilton) didn’t make that play. I’ve seen him make that catch.”

Acta was impressed with Damon’s hustle around the bases for the standup triple.

“I think this guy was doing that before most of our guys signed a professional contract,” Acta said of Damon, who was a rookie in 1995. “He’s in tremendous shape.”

Texas manager Ron Washington second-guessed himself for letting Lewis face Damon with left-hander Robbie Ross warming up in the bullpen.

“Colby had gotten him out all day,” Washington said. “I was one batter late. I’ll take the blame for that.”

Damon said he wasn’t comfortable early against the right-hander.

“The first three times up, I had lazy swings,” Damon said after driving on 0-1 curveball 400 feet to center.

“I don’t think I had thrown one (curve) to him all day,” Lewis said. “I had made him swing at a lot of bad pitches, good pitches for me in the first three at-bats. He made it happen when he needed to make it happen.”

Choo’s two-run homer made it 2-0 in the second. The 414-foot drive to center snapped an 0-for-14 slump and was his first homer since Aug. 23.

Texas, which had won 11 of its previous 12 games at Progressive Field, scored in the third on a sacrifice fly by Ian Kinsler.

Hannahan made it 3-1 in the bottom half with his second homer, which originally appeared to be a triple. His drive down the right-field line caromed off the wall and by the time right fielder Nelson Cruz tracked it down, Hannahan was standing on third.

Acta argued and plate umpire Dale Scott and his crew went to look at TV replays, which showed the ball hit above the yellow line atop the wall. Scott signaled homer, the crowd roared, and Hannahan trotted home.

David Murphy’s RBI double in the fourth got Texas within 3-2.

The Rangers tied it in the sixth. Michael Young blooped a double to right, moved up on Murphy’s long fly ball to center and scored on Cruz’s single to left, which broke his 0-for-14 slide.

Lewis allowed six runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings, snapping his personal six-game winning streak since Sept. 9. That was the longest active streak in the AL.

Notes: Texas has lost three straight for the first time since Aug. 23-25. … Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus went 1-for-4. He has hit safely in all 24 of his career games against Cleveland. … Washington pushed right-hander Neftali Perez’s next start to Tuesday at Baltimore, saying he wants to keep the other starters, Lewis, Derek Holland, Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison on their regular turn. … Perez said a season-ending knee injury to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera won’t keep him from shagging fly balls during batting practice. “It’s a shame that’s how he got hurt, but it won’t stop me,” Perez said. “I love it. It makes me feel like a (regular) player.” … Cleveland traded outfielder Ryan Spilborghs to the Rangers, who assigned him to Triple-A Round Rock.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Johnny Damon was in the midst of a forgettable home debut with the Indians Friday night when he came to the plate with two on and two outs in the seventh inning. His first three at-bats were popped to left, and he had misplayed a ball in left field that led to a run.

But Damon did not have 2,724 career hits by conceding that any game was a lost cause. He knew one swing can salvage everything.

Damon hit a two-run triple in the seventh inning to account for the final margin as the Indians defeated the Rangers, 6-3, at Progressive Field. Right-hander Jeanmar Gomez allowed three runs in seven innings in front of a paid attendance of 16,147.

The Tribe (14-10), first in the AL Central, has won three in a row. Texas (17-9), first in the AL West, has lost three straight. In their first game against the Rangers this season, the Indians matched their victory total from last year’s series (1-9).

“It’s always good when you can beat a club like that, especially in the first game of a series,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “We played very fundamentally sound, and Gomez was terrific against such a great lineup that the Rangers put out there.”

Gomez (2-1, 2.82 ERA) did not have his plus-slider, but he used his fastball and change effectively and made quality pitches when necessary. It was his first career appearance against Texas.

“They have a lot of good hitters,” Gomez said. “I watched an hour of tape. I felt good out there.”

A one-run lead against the Rangers is virtually nothing, so the Indians figured they needed to squeeze something out of their seventh inning. With two outs, Casey Kotchman walked against right-hander Colby Lewis and advanced to second on Jack Hannahan’s single.

Damon took a called strike, then smoked a Lewis curve deep to center. The smooth Josh Hamilton narrowly missed running it down at the wall.

“In my first three at-bats, I competed, but they were lazy swings at pitches off the plate,” Damon said. “In the last at-bat, the pitch might have been a tad off the plate, too, but I happened to get the good part of the bat on it. Fortunately, Josh didn’t make that play; he makes it quite a bit during the course of a season.”

Damon is 2-for-12 in three games with the Indians since being signed as a free agent.

“It’s good that Johnny can join the Tribe and start doing that stuff,” Acta said of the triple. “He’s been in so many big situations, nothing’s going to faze him in this game.”

The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the second. With one out, Carlos Santana singled. Santana barely had time to get his lead when Shin-Soo Choo dropped the barrel on a two-seamer and hammered it into the Indians bullpen in center.

Choo’s first homer of the season snapped an 0-for-14 and gave him his first RBIs at home, where he had been 3-for-21. Choo had gone 17 games and 67 at-bats without a homer, easily the longest season-opening dry spell of his career.

Texas pulled within 2-1 in the third. Mitch Moreland led off with a fly to deep left field, where Damon got turned around and had the ball glance off his glove. Moreland, who was credited with a double, moved to third on a grounder and scored on Ian Kinsler’s sacrifice fly to right.

Hannahan made it 3-1 with a homer in the Tribe half of the third. Hannahan’s lead-off shot down the right-field line initially was a triple after the ball caromed back in play. Acta asked for a review, and the umpire crew saw that the ball hit the glass above the wall.

The Rangers scored in the fourth when Michael Young and David Murphy hit back-to-back doubles. They tied it in the sixth when Nelson Cruz lined a two-out single to left to drive in Young.

The Indians regained the advantage in the bottom of the sixth. Sizzling Jason Kipnis opened with a single, extending his hitting streak to eight games. Kipnis stole second and moved to third on Asdrubal Cabrera’s infield single up the middle. Travis Hafner hit a sacrifice fly to center.

Kipnis finished 2-for-4. He was coming off a series in Chicago in which he went 6-for-11 with two walks.

Lewis gave up the six runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings. In his previous five starts to begin the season, he did not give up more than two runs.

“We had a pretty good approach against him,” Acta said. “We laid off some tough pitches, and guys didn’t try to do too much.”

Gomez was relieved by Vinnie Pestano to begin the eighth. Gomez allowed the three runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out two.

Pestano pitched the eighth. Chris Perez worked the ninth to earn his 10th consecutive save.

In the top of the first, Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus reached on an infield single to shortstop, giving him at least one hit in 24 career games against Cleveland. The career-opening streak is the longest against the Tribe since at least 1918.

Even though the wind was blowing in, the ball carried to most parts of the ballpark. First-pitch temperature of 66 degrees qualified as balmy when stacked against most of the other Tribe home games this year.

On Twitter: @dmansworldpd

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Through one-plus month of the baseball season, closing has proven hazardous to the mental and physical health. If closers are not getting rocked, they are tearing ACLs while shagging fly balls in batting practice.

The Indians have been fortunate. Not only has their closer survived, he has thrived. Chris Perez has 10 saves in 11 opportunities and a 3.09 ERA after Friday’s 6-3 victory over Texas. Since a rocky appearance on Opening Day, when he gave up three runs in two-thirds of an inning in a blown save against Toronto, he has allowed one run in 11 innings of 12 appearances.

While Perez has lived up to his All-Star status of last season, a number of his peers has had all sorts of issues. Here is a sampling of what already has befallen closers:

Mariano Rivera, Yankees: The greatest ever suffered a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee during batting practice Thursday at Kansas City. He was tracking a fly ball hit by former Indian Jayson Nix. Rivera, 42, is a 12-time All-Star.

Brian Wilson, Giants: The three-time All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery in April, the second such surgery of his career.

Joakim Soria, Royals: The two-time All-Star injured his right elbow in spring training and underwent reconstructive surgery.

Sergio Santos, Blue Jays: He was placed on the disabled list April 21 because of right-shoulder inflammation. He is 2-for-4 in save chances and owns a 9.00 ERA in six games.

Carlos Marmol, Cubs: He entered Friday at 2-for-4 and owned a 6.23 ERA in 12 games. He was replaced as closer this week.

Heath Bell, Marlins: He entered Friday at 3-for-6 and owned an 11.74 ERA in 10 games. He went 43-for-48 last year with San Diego.

J.J. Putz, Diamondbacks: He entered Friday at 5-for-7 and owned a 6.48 ERA in nine games. He went 45-for-49 last year.

Jose Valverde, Tigers: He entered Friday at 4-for-5 and owned a 5.59 ERA in 10 games. In the 2011 regular season, he was 49-for-49 and had a 2.24 ERA.

Alfredo Aceves, Red Sox: He entered Friday at 5-for-7. In the two blown saves, he gave up eight runs.

Perez did not need to be informed as to how difficult it has been for closers this season.

“We’re sort of a fraternity,” he said. “We feel for each other, because we understand how short people’s memories can be. You’re always one or two bad streaks away from them calling for your job. And that’s how it should be. When you have the lead after eight innings, you’ve got to win those games.”

Nothing to see here: Perez does not care what a TV replay might suggest or what White Sox outfielder Alex Rios says. Perez reiterated Friday afternoon that he directed no ill will toward Rios at the end of Thursday night’s game in Chicago.

As Rios grounded to Asdrubal Cabrera for what was to become the final out of a 7-5 Tribe victory, Perez is seen turning toward the first-base line and yelling. As Rios runs to first, Perez’s head follows him.

Rios reached the bag and immediately turned. He flapped his arms and barked at Perez.

“When I was running to first, he was yelling the whole way,” Rios told reporters. “I don’t know what was wrong with him. He just started yelling at me. For no reason. I couldn’t tell what he was saying; he was just staring and saying something.”

Perez said he simply was pleased that the Indians prevailed.

“I wasn’t talking anything to Rios,” he said. “I couldn’t care less if it was he or (A.J.) Pierzynski or (Paul) Konerko — whoever made the last out, I was going to do the same thing. It was for the team. We had just won a series on the road.”

Perez maintained that his look toward the first-base line only was to follow the ball into first baseman Casey Kotchman‘s glove.

“When I knew Cabby had it, I yelled, ‘(Expletive), yeah! Game’s over!”’ Perez said. “I watched the ball go to first, then Rios spun on me. I said, ‘What? The game’s over. What’s your problem?”’

Rios said: “If you are celebrating, that’s not the right way to do it.”

Rios said he has no history with Perez — but he does have a walkoff grand slam against him. On Sept. 10, 2011, Rios’s blast with one out in the 10th inning gave the White Sox a 7-3 victory.

“Rios was happy after he hit that homer, as he should be,” Perez said. “And I had a right to be happy after we won a series in their place.”

Give him his due: Count Perez and his teammates among those pleased that Rivera has vowed to return next season. Rivera is MLB’s all-time saves leader with 608.

“You want to see him keep going, for all that he’s meant to the game,” Perez said. “As an athlete, you always want to go out on your own terms and not because you’re not good enough or because of injury.”

Tribe left fielder Johnny Damon said: “He’s one of the greatest pitchers of all time — not just relievers.”

Damon, who played with Rivera in New York, said the closer always has enjoyed running down balls in batting practice.

“For the past 17 years, he probably was the best center fielder the Yankees had,” Damon said. “That’s how good of a shagger he was.”