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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jonathan Villar had two home runs and a career-high five RBI and Matt Garza beat his former team as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Texas Rangers 8-3 on Monday night.The loss dropped American League West-champion Texas one-half game behind the Boston Red Sox in the race for the leagues best record. The Cleveland Indians pulled within one-half game of the Rangers.Villar, the major leagues stolen base leader with 59, hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning and a three-run shot in the seventh. He also doubled.Garza (6-8) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. He spent the second half of the 2013 season with Texas as a rental acquisition from the Chicago Cubs, going 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA. It was Garzas first appearance against Texas since 2010.Rangers starter Martin Perez (10-11) was looking to set a career high for wins in a season. He gave up a season-high eight earned runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings. His home record this season fell to 8-3.Jonathan Lucroy, who played 6 1/2 seasons for Milwaukee before being traded to Texas on Aug. 1, faced his previous team for the first time. Lucroy went 1 for 4.Jeremy Jeffress, acquired by Texas in the same trade, made his first appearance since being reinstated Friday from the restricted list. He was arrested on a drunken driving charge in Dallas on Aug. 26 and was sent to an inpatient rehab clinic. Jeffress retired all four batters he faced.SHORT HOPSMilwaukee clinched fourth place in the NL Central. . Perez added to his major league-leading total of groundball double plays induced with his 36th of the season in the sixth inning. . Elvis Andrus and Carlos Gomez, another former Brewer, both had three hits for Texas.TRAINERS ROOMBrewers: RHP Taylor Jungmann wont pitch again this season after suffering a hip abductor during his start last Saturday night, which was his first in the majors since April.Rangers: OF Shin-Soo Choo (left forearm fracture) had three hits and two walks batting in all seven innings of an Instructional League game on Monday . Manager Jeff Banister said he hopes to get RHP Tony Barnette (strained oblique), who last pitched on Sept. 4, into Tuesday nights game.UP NEXTBrewers RHP Jimmy Nelson (8-15) leads the NL in losses after getting off to a 3-1 start. Rangers RHP A.J. Griffin (7-4) lasted only 1 2/3 innings last Tuesday in Anaheim, allowing three hits and four walks. If Texas elects to go with four starters in the Division Series, Griffin is a contender for the final slot. Anton Khudobin Stars Jersey . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Brian Bellows Jersey . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. http://www.thedallasstarshockey.com/mattias-janmark-hockey-jersey/ . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Gump Worsley Stars Jersey .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Custom Dallas Stars Jerseys . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Has some of the shine come off of Ronald Koemans start as Everton manager?The Dutchman was pushing all the right buttons early in the season, but now faces a challenge to get his side back to their winning ways. His next opportunity to do so comes Sunday when the Toffees welcome West Ham United to Goodison Park.After starting the campaign unbeaten in their first five matches, the wheels have fallen off a bit on the blue half of Merseyside with the club winless in four straight. Everton (4-3-2) havent claimed a full three points since a 3-1 win over promoted side Middlesbrough back on Sept. 17.The Toffees enter the weekend sixth in the table with 15 points.Its not about our last five games, its not about the first six, its not about winning or losing, its an overview of what has happened and that we want to change, Koeman added. Of course, we know if you dont win in the Premier League then every time you play you come closer to a must-win game.I think we need to turn it around but it happens in football. Im prepared to get in tough times and also prepared for how we started the season, because thats football.Last weeks 2-1 defeat at the hands of Burnley materialised in the worst possible fashion. After the hosts opened the scoring in the 39th minute at Turf Moor, Yannick Bolasie equalised in the 58th. Everton dominated play most of the second half, but Scott Arfield fired home the stoppage-time winner, thus sending Koemans boys home shockingly disappointed.Koeman, though, believed the final score was an unfair reflection of the game.I mentioned to the players that we had a good start, he said. Maybe we dropped a little bit too much in the last 20 minutes of the first half, but it was an unlucky goal to concede.We had a good reaction in the second half. It was with much more intensity, we created more and were more dangerous. We scored a good goal and you expect to win the game, but then what happened in the last mminute was hard to take.dddddddddddd It was unfair with what happened on the pitch.Despite the recent dip in form, striker Romelu Lukaku continues to be a bright spot. Entering this weekends action, the Belgian international has netted six goals -- second only to Chelseas Diego Costa.On the injury front, left-back Leighton Baines and midfielder James McCarthy have been ruled out. Baines has missed the last five matches with a hamstring issue while McCarthy has picked up a similar problem.After starting the season with five defeats in their first six Premier League fixtures, West Ham United (3-1-5) have done well to bounce back a bit. Theyve found themselves unbeaten in three straight, including consecutive 1-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Sunderland each of the past two weeks.Winston Red netted the stoppage-time winner against Sunderland last weekend, and the Hammers were able to continue their form in midweek with an impressive 2-1 win over Chelsea in the EFL Cup. Theyll face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the quarterfinals next month.Goalkeeper Darren Randolph believes West Ham proved they are a match for anyone.We never seem to get the easy route in cup competitions, but its another trip to Old Trafford, where we went last season and put in some good performances, Randolph said.It was a good display for the whole game. Obviously to beat Chelsea as well was great. Everyone who came in did their jobs and it was a good win, and a good game for the neutral as well. Everybodys happy.The Hammers will need all hands on deck if they are to take points away from Goodison. West Ham manager Slaven Bilic believes he should have a full squad.Its a big game, Bilic said. We played a very demanding game physically and psychologically on (against Chelsea) and we have a few knocks and all that. ' ' '