"He's going to have a lot of days like today," infield instructor Dave Anderson said. "And he's going to have some bumps in the road. He's learning how to play in the major leagues. The big thing for Elvis, for any young infielder, is making the routine plays. That's the thing we focused on last year and all of spring training."

The Rangers had so much faith in Andrus as a shortstop that they asked five-time All-Star and 2008 AL Gold Glove winner Michael Young to move to third so the rookie could break in. Young gave way and made two sharp plays of his own, charging to field slow rollers and gunning down runners with above-average throws.

It was a different look for the left side of the infield, but one the Rangers hope will help in the run-reduction category. The Rangers believe their pitchers often couldn't get out of trouble in the last couple of years because infielders were to slow to react to groundballs. The plan to improve pitching this season, in large part, depended on the infield taking away hits from opponents.

On Monday, the infielders took away three potential hits. The Indians scored just once. Not a bad job of run reduction.