Texas Rangers

Umpire talks about blown call in Rangers-Mariners opener

Jeff Nelson, the first-base umpire Friday night who thought Mitch Moreland had caught the ball to complete a double play when in fact pitcher Justin Grimm had cut it off, spoke Saturday to pool reporter Larry Stone of the Seattle Times about the play.

"When you umpire that play, your focus goes to the bag, and you watch the foot touch the bag and listen for the ball hitting the mitt. In this case, I ruled the ball was caught by the first baseman, and the ball was actually caught by the pitcher. The pitcher kind of came out of nowhere on that play. I didn't pick that up. Obviously, looking at the replays, I wish I had."
 
When did you finally see it? "I saw a replay after the game. The first baseman for Texas told me a couple of innings later that the pitcher had caught the ball and not him. That's when I had an indication maybe the pitcher had actually caught the ball."
 
Could others on crew have helped him out? "If they have something for me, they won't hesitate, because I've worked with these guys a lot. They won't hesitate to give me assistance if they have something that can help me with that. At the same time, they also have other assignments during that play because of the nature of the play with multiple runners."
 
Did it make you feel any better that Seattle manager Eric Wedge and others didn't see it either? "I haven't seen a play like this in 25 years. Eric was very professional in how he came out. But there's never any consolation in a thing like this, because it's your job to get it right. We're competitive, too, and we want to get things right. So I'd love to say it makes you feel better, but you're angry just like everybody else that you ruled otherwise."
 
Reaction when Mitch Moreland told you? "I'll kind of leave that up to everyone else to figure out. But we're competitive and we like to get things right, and when we don't, we're just like anybody else. We want to get things right."

-- Jeff Wilson

Saturday's Rangers-Mariners lineups: David Murphy still second

David Murphy returns to the No. 2 hole in the lineup with a right-hander facing the Rangers. The righty is former Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez, who has had trouble with Murphy. He is 20 for 66 (.303) in his career with two homers and 11 RBIs aginast Hernandez. Leadoff man Elvis Andrus is 17 for 54 (.314).

Rangers lineup vs. RHP Felix Hernandez: Elvis Andrus, ss; David Murphy, lf; Lance Berkman, dh; Adrian Beltre, 3b; Nelson Cruz, rf; Mitch Moreland, 1b; A.J. Pierzynski, c; Jurickson Profar, 2b; Leonys Martin, cf.

Mariners lineup vs. LHP Derek Holland: Jason Bay, lf; Kyle Seager, 3b; Michael Morse, rf; Kendrys Morales, dh; Justin Smoak, 1b; Michael Saunders, cf; Kelly Shoppach, c; Carlos Triunfel, 2b; Brendan Ryan, ss.

-- Jeff Wilson

Rangers choose Martin Perez to start Monday

The revolving door to the Rangers' injury-plagued starting rotation picked up another fill-in late Friday when manager Ron Washington announced that left-hander Martin Perez would start one of the two games Monday in a doubleheader at Arizona.

Perez is likely to start the first game, with Yu Darvish starting the second. Perez was the choice over right-handers Josh Lindblom, who started Monday and lost to Oakland, and Ross Wolf, who beat Oakland on Wednesday.

Major-league rules allow for teams to carry a 26th player for a doubleheader, so Wolf will be in the bullpen.

Perez, 22, allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings Tuesday for Triple A Round Rock. He is the Rangers' top pitching prospect and was headed toward a spot in the season-opening rotation before being struck on the arm by a line drive during a spring game March 3. He suffered a broken ulna and missed the next eight weeks.

He made his major-league debut last season, going 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA. He will become the ninth different pitcher to start a game for the Rangers this season. Matt Harrison (back) and Alexi Ogando (biceps tendinitis), and Wolf filled in for Nick Tepesch on Wednesday after he was scratched with a blister on his right finger.

Tepesch is expected to start Sunday.

-- Jeff Wilson

Rangers break down second-inning 'double play'

The 3-6-1 double play the Rangers turned for the first two outs of the second inning should have never happened, but first-base umpire Jeff Nelson wrongly thought Mitch Moreland had caught a throw from Elvis Andrus in time to put out Jesus Sucre.

The problem for Nelson and the Mariners was that pitcher Justin Grimm, standing well off the base, caught the ball. Brendan Ryan followed with a game-tying RBI single, and Seattle should have had runners at second and third with one out. Instead, Michael Saunders looked at strike three to end the inning.

Here's Grimm's take: "That happened so fast I didn’t realize the ump had called him out. Mitch came up to me and said, 'Well, he called him out, so walk with me.'

"I just started walking back to the mound like, 'Dang it. What did I do?' They’ve got a tough job, and not many people realize how quick things happen out there. We caught a break, for sure."

Moreland had stretched for the ball, and appeared to be limping as he walked toward the mound.

"I think that's just more the way I walk," he said. "I kind of wondered where it went, and then I looked up and saw Grimm there and was like, 'Well, I guess he caught it.' Then, I heard, 'Out.'

"I told him to walk with me because I figured there was going to be an argument. That's the way it works sometimes. Nobody's perfect, especially in this game. It went our way."

Mariners manager Eric Wedge argued, but not because Grimm caught the ball. Wedge thought that Moreland's foot hadn't held the bag.

"It would have been a much bigger argument if I had known that at the time," Wedge said.

Rangers manager Ron Washington was asked if he had seen a replay of the disputed play.

"I don't have to see the replay," he said. "We caught a break there."

-- Jeff Wilson

 

 

 

Rangers 9, Mariners 5 (F)

SEATTLE — Lance Berkman hit a three-run homer, Jeff Baker had a two-run shot, and David Murphy delivered a two-run single as the Rangers backed Justin Grimm en route to a 9-5 victory Friday over the Mariners at Safeco Field.

Baker’s homer, his fifth, came with two outs in the second off Joe Saunders and lifted the Rangers into a 2-1 lead. Berkman’s blast, his fourth, came in the third and broke a 2-2 tie.

With the Rangers leading 6-3 in the seventh, Nelson Cruz singled up the middle for a two-out RBI single and, after A.J. Pierzynski walked to fill the bases, Murphy dumped a soft single into left to make it 9-3.

Murphy had pinch-hit for Baker in the sixth, so the Rangers got four RBIs from their left fielders.
Grimm allowed two-out runs in each of the first three innings and allowed 10 hits, but he pitched into the seventh. He got the first out of the inning before giving way to Neal Cotts.

Grimm (4-3) benefited in the second inning from a blown call on the back end of a double play. Jesus Sucre was called out at first even though Grimm had caught the ball before it got to first baseman Mitch Moreland.

Brendan Ryan followed with a two-out RBI double, but the Mariners could have had a bigger inning.

-- Jeff Wilson

Friday's Rangers-Mariners lineups: Mitch Moreland bats second

A left-handed starter, the first the Rangers have faced in 12 games, has caused manager Ron Washington to alter the Rangers' lineup. With Ian Kinsler unavailable to bat first and Elvis Andrus sliding up a spot to fill that vacancy, Mitch Moreland will bat second against Mariners lefty Joe Saunders. It's Moreland's fifth career start there and second this season. He went 2 for 4 the first time.

Rangers lineup vs. LHP Joe Saunders: Elvis Andrus, ss; Mitch Moreland, 1b; Lance Berkman, dh; Adrian Beltre, 3b; Nelson Cruz, rf; A.J. Pierzynski, c; Jeff Baker, lf; Craig Gentry, cf; Jurickson Profar, 2b.

Mariners lineup vs. RHP Justin Grimm: Michael Saunders, cf; Dustin Ackley, 2b; Kyle Seager, 3b; Kendrys Morales, dh; Michael Morse, rf; Raul Ibanez, lf; Justin Smoak, 1b; Jesus Sucre, c; Brendan Ryan, ss.

-- Jeff Wilson

Final: Rangers 3 A's 1

ARLINGTON -- In the first major league start of his career, Ross Wolf allowed one earned run in 5-plus innings of work to lead the Rangers to a 3-1 win on Wednesday afternoon.

Texas avoided being swept by Oakland and is only one of two teams along with the Yankees without three straight losses.

The 30 year-old right-hander received a standing ovation from the crowd after giving up three hits and striking out two.

In the first inning, Rangers left-fielder David Murphy gave Wolf an early cushion with a two-run home run that scored Elvis Andrus. Two batters later, Adrian Beltre’s solo shot to center field made the score 3-0.

The A’s got on the board in the fourth inning on Brandon Moss’ sacrifice fly to score Coco Crisp.

With runners on first and second in the sixth, Texas left handed reliever Neal Cotts struck out the side to escape the inning. He allowed one hit and zero earned runs over the sixth and seventh innings.

Rangers closer Joe Nathan struck out A’s catcher Derek Norris to earn his 14^th save of the season.

--Christian Clark

Wednesday's Rangers-Athletics Lineups

Ross Wolf will make his first major league start. The 30 year-old RHP has made 25 relief appearances throughout his career. At first base, Jeff Baker will start in place of Mitch Moreland, who was given the day off by Rangers manager Ron Washington. Moreland appeared in all 46 of the Rangers previous games. 

Texas -- 1. Elvis Andrus, ss; 2. David Murphy, lf; 3. Lance Berkman, dh; 4. Adrian Beltre, 3b; 5. Nelson Cruz, rf; 6. A.J. Pierzynski, c; 7. Jeff Baker, 1b; 8. Leonys Martin, cf; 9. Leury Garcia, 2b.

RHP Ross Wolf (0-0, ---)

Oakland -- 1. Coco Crisp, cf; 2. John Jaso, dh; 3. Yoenis Cespedes, lf; 4. Brandon Moss, 1b; 5. Josh Donaldson, 3b; 6. Seth Smith, rf; 7. Derek Norris, c; 8. Eric Sogard, 2b; 9. Adam Rosales, ss.

RHP Jarrod Parker (2-5, 6.04 ERA)

-- Christian Clark

Rangers option RHP Cory Burns to Triple A Round Rock

Cory Burns is headed back to Triple A Round Rock.

Burns, a right-handed reliever, was called up last Thursday when Alexi Ogando went on the disabled list. He allowed two runs over 3 2/3 innings over three appearances. He had a 1.38 ERA in 14 outings with the Express when he was called up.

The move cleared a roster spot for today's spot starter Ross Wolf, a 30-year-old right-hander seeing his first big-league action since 2010. Wolf has gone 1-2 with a 2.02 ERA over seven games, including six starts, with Double A Frisco and Round Rock this season.

Wolf has 25 relief appearances in the big leagues, but today marks his first start.

With those moves, the Rangers have a full 40-man roster.

The decision leaves the Rangers with four left-handers in the bullpen -- Joseph Ortiz, Michael Kirkman, Robbie Ross and Neal Cotts.

Ortiz, like Burns, has options remaining, but Rangers manager Ron Washington said: We're not ready to go there yet."

Here are a few other pregame notes:

* The Rangers' next rotation decision will come as to who starts the other game in Monday's doubleheader in Phoenix. Yu Darvish is slated to start the first game, and Ross Wolf, Josh Lindblom and Martin Perez appear to be the top candidates to start the other games.

* Mitch Moreland was given a day off today, as Ron Washington wanted to get his first baseman consecutive days off.

-- Drew Davison

Wrapping up Rangers' 1-0 loss to Athletics

Tuesday night gave us only the 13th 1-0 game in Rangers Ballpark history, and the home team was on the losing end for the fifth time.

The Rangers couldn't get anything going against Athletics starter Dan Straily and two relievers, as they combined for just three hits on the night. It made Yu Darvish the hard-luck loser, a surprise as he had the most run support of any starter in the majors going into the game.

The difference in the game proved to be a solo homer by A's slugger Yoenis Cespedes in the third inning.

"It was a tough game to lose, but we've got to come out tomorrow and try to salvage something," designated hitter Lance Berkman said.

As far as seeing Darvish on the losing end, Berkman said: "It happens. Hey, what are you going to do? It's behind us and we've got to try and dust ourselves off and come back out and try to win."

Straily lasted only 4 1/3 innings last week when he faced the Rangers, but pitched impressively over seven innings. The Rangers' batters thought Straily commanded his fastball more effectively, which was a key difference on the night.

Here are a few postgame notes:

* The Rangers have lost past two nights by a combined score of 10-2. Said Mitch Moreland, who went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts Tuesday: "You run into that every now and then. It's a long season and it's going to happen. It just happened the last two unfortunately, but we get to come out and play tomorrow. That's the beauty of this game."

* The three hits were a season low. A.J. Pierzynski, Jurickson Profar and Craig Gentry all had singles on the night. It's also only the third time the Rangers were shutout this season, along with April 10 vs. Tampa Bay and April 28 at Minnesota.

* Neal Cotts made his Rangers debut and his first big-league appearance in almost four years to the day. He worked an impressive six-pitch ninth inning.

-- Drew Davison