Rangers Notes: Short Staff Pummeled on Long Road Trip

After giving up four runs in less than one inning pitched, Chi Chi Gonzalez (center) is removed from Saturday’s 17-5 blowout loss at Target Field.

The absence of pitchers Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis has begun to loom large over the Rangers’ rotation, which has seen a starter reach the seventh inning just twice in the last 18 ballgames.

Texas hurlers were hit particularly hard on the club’s recent road swing through New York, Minneapolis and Boston, combining to allow 67 runs across 86 innings while the team suffered back-to-back series defeats for the first time all season.

Chi Chi Gonzalez was knocked around for five earned runs on 10 base hits in his 2016 debut versus the Yankees last Monday, a contest that was halted for more than three and a half hours by rain during the top of the ninth inning.

With closer Aroldis Chapman protecting a 6-5 lead for New York and clearly having control issues amid a steady downpour, Yankees manager Joe Girardi requested that the umpires inspect the mound. The decision was soon made to delay – rather than suspend – the game.

Once play resumed at 2:15 a.m. local time, the Rangers staged a four-run rally against reliever Kirby Yates that was punctuated by RBI singles from Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus, and Sam Dyson tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth to earn his 16th save of the year.

Beltre hit a two-run homer off CC Sabathia in the first inning Tuesday to give Texas an early lead, which was made to hold up thanks to seven shutout frames from Cole Hamels. The Rangers scored five more times in the eighth on the way to a 7-1 victory.

They jumped to another early advantage on Wednesday and carried a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth, only to see New York stage a furious comeback with six unanswered runs against Matt Bush and Sam Dyson.

Bush put the first two batters aboard before giving way to Dyson, who gave up a game-tying home run to Brian McCann followed by a two-run, walk-off shot to Didi Gregorius.

The Yankee shortstop hurt Texas again Thursday when he lifted a solo homer in the fifth inning off A.J. Griffin to tie the game, and New York salvaged a series split when Chase Headley scored on a passed ball by Robinson Chirinos in the bottom of the ninth.

Friday’s opener against Minnesota remained scoreless until the seventh inning, when Jurickson Profar’s two-run single gave the Rangers a brief lead before Trevor Plouffe answered with a game-tying homer off Martin Perez.

Leading off the top of the tenth versus left-hander Fernando Abad, Ian Desmond slammed an opposite-field home run that put Texas back in front for good, and Dyson struck out two of the three batters he faced to nail down the 3-2 win.

Poor pitching and poor defense amounted to a 17-5 defeat to the Twins on Saturday, as Gonzalez failed to make it out of the first inning while Max Kepler went deep twice and collected seven runs batted in for Minnesota.

The best performance of the afternoon for Texas came from backup catcher Bryan Holaday, who was pressed into service on the mound and did not allow a base runner in his one and one-third innings of work.

(Holaday has since been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised left thumb, and outfielder Jared Hoying was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock to fill Holaday’s spot on the active roster.)

Brian Dozier drove in two runs and scored twice on Sunday as the Twins – owners of the worst record in baseball and sitting more than 20 games out of first place – held on for a 5-4 win to take the series.

Texas then wrapped up the road trip by dropping two out of three contests in Boston, with lopsided losses of 12-5 and 11-6 bookending a well-pitched 7-2 victory Tuesday. Cesar Ramos earned the win in relief of A.J. Griffin and Robinson Chirinos put the game away with a three-run blast against Craig Kimbrel in the ninth.

Desmond, Hamels Make All-Star Squad

Outfielder Ian Desmond and left-handed starter Cole Hamels were announced as the Rangers’ two All-Star representatives on Tuesday, and Hamels could be a candidate to start the game next week in his hometown of San Diego.

At the season’s mathematical halfway mark, Desmond had started all but two of Texas’ 81 games while batting .323 with 14 steals, 36 extra-base hits and 52 runs batted in. The career shortstop also made a seamless defensive transition to left and, more recently, center field.

Hamels, 32, reached the midway point with a 9-1 record across his first 16 starts, posting a 2.60 ERA, racking up 102 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .226 batting average.

The 30-year-old Desmond was previously an All-Star for Washington in 2012, and Hamels made the team in 2007, ’11 and ’12 as a member of the Phillies.

Bullpen Gets Fresh Arms

Prior to Sunday’s rubber game in Minnesota, left-hander Michael Roth was called up from Round Rock to provide the Rangers with a well-rested arm in their beleaguered bullpen.

Right-handed reliever Luke Jackson – who had been hammered for six earned runs in less than two innings the previous day – was optioned to Double-A Frisco and Colby Lewis was moved to the 60-day disabled list in a pair of corresponding roster moves.

Roth surrendered six earned runs on 10 hits in his Texas debut Monday, then was designated for assignment on Tuesday when right-hander Jose Leclerc was called up from Triple-A.

Making his major-league debut at Fenway Park, the 22-year-old Leclerc worked around a pair of walks and struck out four batters in two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.

Also Tuesday, outfielder Ryan Strausborger was traded to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for international bonus slot money.

Surkamp Obtained from A’s

The Rangers acquired left-hander Eric Surkamp on a waiver claim from Oakland last Wednesday and optioned him to Triple-A Round Rock. Outfielder Drew Stubbs was transferred to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Surkamp.

The 28-year-old southpaw had been designated for assignment earlier in the week by the Athletics when they claimed former Ranger Nick Tepesch off waivers from the Dodgers.

Surkamp was winless across nine appearances this season for Oakland, but he posted a 3-1 record with an earned run average of 3.07 and 34 strikeouts in five starts at Triple-A Nashville.

(UPDATE: Texas has since released Surkamp and sold his contract to the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization.)

Rangers Notes: Texas Loses Five of Seven on West Coast Swing

Right fielder Mitch Moreland fails to make the play Sunday on a drive by Daric Barton in Oakland, part of a 7-2 loss for the Rangers against the A’s.

After losing three out of four games at home to the Blue Jays last week – with poor starting pitching and sloppy defense being the main culprits in the losses – the Rangers lost three out of four games in Oakland over the weekend to the division rival Athletics, then dropped two of three against the last-place Mariners in Seattle.

Oakland right-hander Trevor Cahill shut out the Rangers for seven innings Friday while Kurt Suzuki, Conor Jackson and Josh Willingham each drove in a run to lead the A’s to a 3-1 win over Texas.

Rangers starter C.J. Wilson went seven innings in a losing cause, giving up just two earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts, but an unearned run came home as a result of an Ian Kinsler error in the seventh. As for Cahill, he lowered his season earned run average to 1.88 with seven scoreless innings of work, issuing four walks but benefitting from 10 ground ball outs as Texas left a total of 12 runners on base in the game.

On Saturday, the Rangers pounded Oakland starter Brett Anderson for seven runs on nine hits across the first five innings of an 11-2 drubbing of the Athletics. Texas took a first-inning lead when Adrian Beltre lined a double into left field to bring home Elvis Andrus, who had walked and gone to third base on a groundout and his eighth stolen base of the season.

Right-hander Colby Lewis started for the Rangers and gave up his league-leading ninth home run of the year in the second inning, a solo shot by Kurt Suzuki to tie the game at 1-1. After Michael Young clubbed a two-run homer in the third (his first long ball this season), the Athletics’ Josh Willingham added another solo home run against Lewis in the fourth, bringing Oakland to within 3-2.

But Texas teed off against Anderson with a four-run fifth inning, which included a three-run homer by Nelson Cruz and was capped off with a solo blast from Mike Napoli. In the eighth, Ian Kinsler hit a two-out RBI double before an error by A’s shortstop Cliff Pennington led to three unearned runs in the top of the ninth.

It was Oakland’s turn to pound the opposing starter on Sunday afternoon, as the Athletics hammered Rangers left-hander Matt Harrison for four earned runs in less than two innings on the way to a 7-2 win over Texas. After beginning the season with a 3-0 record and a 1.23 earned run average, Harrison has now lost three straight games and watched his ERA jump to 4.59 on the year.

Oakland outfielder Conor Jackson, the third batter of the game, worked the count full against Harrison before hitting a two-run double to give the Athletics a 2-0 lead. After moving to third on a fly ball, Jackson scored when Kurt Suzuki singled into left field to stake left-hander Gio Gonzalez to a three-run advantage.

Oakland scored another run off Harrison in the second inning and added two more in the third against reliever Dave Bush, with RBI hits from Coco Crisp, Hideki Matsui and Cliff Pennington. Young and Kinsler each contributed run-scoring hits in a losing effort for the Rangers.

Behind the strength of three solo home runs – including a game-winning shot by Matsui – the A’s wrapped up the series Monday with a 5-4 victory over Texas in 10 innings.

After Oakland scored a run in the bottom of the second, Michael Young hit a two-out, two-run double in the third inning to give Texas a 2-1 lead. Suzuki tied the score with a leadoff home run against Rangers starter Derek Holland in the fourth, but Texas loaded the bases in the fifth inning before Young and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back RBI sacrifice flies to right field.

The Athletics scored one more run against Holland in the fifth inning, and Josh Willingham tied the game with a solo homer off Arthur Rhodes in the eighth.

With the score tied at 4-4, Texas loaded the bases in the top of the tenth on three walks issued by reliever Grant Balfour but failed to get a run across. The missed opportunity proved costly when Hideki Matsui homered on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Darren Oliver in the A’s half of the inning, giving Oakland a walk-off victory and a 3-1 win in the series.

The Rangers committed a total of six errors in the four games against the Athletics, moving them into a tie with Oakland for the worst team fielding percentage (.976) in the American League.

Texas then moved on to Seattle, where the club was greeted with a 4-3, come-from-behind loss at the hands of the Mariners in the series opener on Tuesday.

The Rangers took three separate leads in the game, only to see Seattle come back and tie it each time. After Texas scored in the top of the eighth to go ahead 3-2, the Mariners responded with two runs in their half of the inning to take their first lead of the game – and they made it hold up through a shutout ninth to secure the 4-3 win.

C.J. Wilson restored some order to the rotation Wednesday with a 12-strikeout, complete-game performance as the Rangers topped Seattle, 5-2, to end their three-game losing skid. Wilson allowed just one earned run on one walk and six hits over nine innings, recording multiple strikeouts in only the first and the fifth – when he struck out the side around a Chone Figgins single and stolen base.

Mitch Moreland and Chris Davis each homered for Texas, while Adrian Beltre and David Murphy also drove in runs in the win.

The lackluster road trip ended with a 3-1 loss the Mariners on Thursday, as former Ranger Justin Smoak went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double for Seattle.

Next up is a 10-game, 11-day homestand against New York, Oakland, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Outfielder Martin Signs with Texas

It was announced Wednesday that the Rangers and Cuban outfielder Leonys Martin have agreed to a five-year contract worth $15.5 million, and the 23-year-old left-handed batter will also receive a $5 million signing bonus.

Only Cincinnati left-hander Aroldis Chapman signed a larger contract as a Cuban defector when he agreed to a six-year deal with the Reds worth $30.25 in January 2010.

Martin took a physical for Texas several weeks ago, but the deal was held up as he and the club dealt with visa and State Department issues. He’ll continue to work out at the team’s spring training facility in Surprise, Ariz., before being assigned to one of the Rangers’ minor-league affiliates later this month.

In 82 games for Villa Clara in the Cuban League last season, Martin batted .326 with 10 home runs, 23 doubles and RBIs.

Right-hander Ramon Aguero was designated for assignment in order to make room for Martin on the 40-man roster. After being acquired on a waiver claim from the Pirates on Apr. 8, Aguero has 10 days for the Rangers to trade, release or send him outright to the minors.