Rangers Notes: Texas Splits Six versus Mariners, Cubs

Jeff Baker delivers a two-out, run-scoring double Tuesday in Chicago, part of the Rangers’ 4-2 win at Wrigley Field.

The Rangers completed this season’s first road trip outside of Texas by splitting a four-game set with the Mariners at Safeco Field before taking one out of two from the Cubs in Chicago.

Despite watching as Seattle right-hander Felix Hernandez notched his 1,500^th career strikeout last Thursday, the Rangers got to him for 10 hits and rallied to beat the Mariners by a 4-3 final.

A.J. Pierzynski homered and went 2-for-3 at the plate, and he teamed with reliever Robbie Ross for a key putout in the bottom of the eighth when Seattle’s Brendan Ryan attempted a suicide squeeze bunt with Endy Chavez, the potential tying run, at third base.

Right-hander Yu Darvish took his first loss of the year Friday, getting tagged for three runs in the first inning but settling down enough to last through the sixth and retire the final 12 batters he faced.

Texas got a lift from infielder Leury Garcia in his big-league debut Saturday and came from behind to beat the Mariners, 3-1, with Garcia collecting a base hit, a walk and a run scored.

Fellow rookie Joe Ortiz — who was credited with his first career victory in Thursday’s game — threw two perfect innings in relief of Alexi Ogando and Robbie Ross to earn his second win on Saturday.

Seattle managed a series split Sunday afternoon by chipping away at Rangers starter Nick Tepesch for four runs over five-plus innings of work, while Texas came up just short with three runs against Mariners rookie Brandon Maurer.

Making their first trip to Wrigley Field since 2002, the Rangers on Tuesday got a solid performance out of Derek Holland and held on for a 4-2 win.

Adrian Beltre’s two-run homer in the eighth inning proved to be the difference while Craig Gentry made a game-saving catch in the bottom of the ninth to end it and preserve the save for Joe Nathan.

Following a rainout on Wednesday, the Cubs got to Alexi Ogando for five earned runs in less than three innings pitched Thursday afternoon on the way to a 6-2 win over Texas.

Chicago Claims Borbon off Waivers

Less than 24 hours after the Rangers departed from the Windy City, outfielder Julio Borbon was claimed off the waiver wire Friday by the Cubs. Borbon had been designated for assignment by Texas and ultimately given his release.

Borbon saw big-league action over parts of three seasons in Arlington before spending all of last year at Triple-A Round Rock, where he batted .304 with a team-leading 162 hits.

Ultimately, he found himself without a true roster spot as the club opted to begin this season with the tandem of Craig Gentry and Leonys Martin in center.

The Rangers had indicated their desire to receive pitching depth in return for Borbon should they have found a trade partner, but no such deal materialized.

Beliveau Dealt to Tampa Bay

Left-handed pitcher Jeff Beliveau was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday in exchange for cash considerations.

Beliveau, 26, was part of the Rangers spring training roster after being picked up from the Cubs last December, but he had made just one appearance with Round Rock so far this season.

He was designated for assignment on Apr. 8 to clear a 40-man roster spot for Robinson Chirinos, who had been acquired from the Rays in a separate deal.

Rangers Notes: Texas Wins Exclusive Rights to Darvish

The Rangers are reported to have bid $51.7 million for the rights to work out a deal with Yu Darvish.

With many national media members speculating that the Toronto Blue Jays had submitted the winning bid to secure negotiating rights with Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish, the Rangers were announced as the high bidders late Monday after submitting a posting fee of $51.7 million, according to reports.

Darvish’s current team, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Pacific League, had posted the 25-year-old pitcher earlier this month, and Major League Baseball clubs had until Dec. 14 to submit their silent bids.

A pensive weekend worth of waiting followed, and it was after 10 p.m. CST Monday night when MLB made the announcement that Texas’ record-setting bid – surpassing the $51.1 million paid by Boston for Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2006 – had been accepted by the Fighters.

“Our organization has scouted Mr. Darvish for the last several years,” the Rangers said in a press release, “and has been very impressed with his abilities and accomplishments. We believe he would be a great addition to the Texas Rangers pitching staff.”

Before that happens, however, Texas must work out a contract with Darvish and his agents, Don Nomura and Arn Tellem, within the 30-day window for negotiations. If a deal cannot be reached, the Rangers will not have to pay the $51.7 million posting fee.

Darvish has a career record of 76-28 across 126 starts for the Fighters, striking out more than 200 batters in four of his five seasons while fashioning a crisp 1.72 lifetime earned run average in the Japanese Pacific League.

Blanco, Chavez, German Find New Teams

Former Texas infielders Andres Blanco and Esteban German and outfielder Endy Chavez each signed on with new clubs within the last week, one heading to the Far East and the others heading to the Eastern Seaboard.

German, who had seen playing time at each of the four infield positions across 43 regular-season games with the Rangers since 2009, agreed to a deal with the Japanese Pacific League’s Seibu Lions on Wednesday.

Two days later, Blanco signed a minor-league contract with the Washington Nationals, and Chavez received a one-year deal from the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Rangers Announce 40^th Anniversary Plans

Details were made public Wednesday for upcoming giveaways, promotions and throwback uniforms to be worn in conjunction with the 40^th anniversary of Major League Baseball coming to North Texas.

The Rangers’ franchise had begun as the Washington Senators, who played in the nation’s capital from 1961 to 1971 before moving to Arlington prior to the 1972 season.

In 2012, the team will don a 40^th anniversary patch on the right sleeve of all home and away uniforms beginning in Spring Training. Texas players will also wear “Turn-Back-The-Clock” jerseys for four separate home games, each representing a different year in Rangers history:

–May 12 vs. Angels – 1974 white uniform

–Jun. 16 vs. Astros – 1986 white uniform

–Jul. 7 vs. Twins – 1994 white uniform

–Aug. 11 vs. Tigers – 1976 powder blue uniform

In addition, each of the team’s 81 home dates in 2012 will feature a different former Texas player delivering the official game ball to the mound.

Rangers Notes: Free-Agent Decisions Loom for Texas

In two seasons as a starter, C.J. Wilson has won 31 games with an earned run average of 3.14 and 376 strikeouts across 427-plus innings of work.

Coming off the first two World Series appearances in franchise history, the Rangers are looking to build upon a solid foundation of core players while scanning the free-agent market for potential areas of improvement this offseason.

At the forefront of any free agent discussion in Arlington is the status of left-hander C.J. Wilson, who has posted a record of 31-15 with six complete games over 67 starts the last two years after racking up 52 saves as a late-inning reliever in his first five big-league seasons.

Wilson, a free agent for the first time in his career, is coming off an All-Star campaign in which he set personal highs for wins (16), starts (34), strikeouts (206) and innings pitched (223⅓). Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees are among the teams to have already expressed interest in Wilson, who turns 31 on Friday.

Regardless of whether or not Wilson stays in Texas, one of the Rangers’ top priorities this offseason will likely be the addition of a starting pitcher to help anchor what is — with the exception of Colby Lewis — a relatively young staff.

While Wilson is the headliner among this year’s otherwise thin crop of free-agent starters, veterans with past success like Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Aaron Harang, Edwin Jackson, Hiroki Kuroda and Roy Oswalt will draw interest from Texas and other clubs looking to solidify their rotation.

On the other end of the free-agent spectrum is first base, where Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols lead a talented class that also includes the likes of Michael Cuddyer, Casey Kotchman, Derrek Lee and Carlos Pena. Fielder and Pujols are both expected to land multi-year deals that will cost well into the hundreds of millions of dollars, leaving the others as cheaper options who may settle for shorter contracts.

In center field, where the Rangers received moderate contributions from Julio Borbon, Endy Chavez and Craig Gentry in 2011, a crop of free agents are available who may be able to contribute more to the Texas lineup, among them Carlos Beltran, Coco Crisp, Nate McLouth and Grady Sizemore.

Hamilton Undergoes Surgery for Sports Hernia

Outfielder Josh Hamilton underwent successful surgery in Philadelphia last Friday to repair a sports hernia in his left side, which limited his ability to generate lower-body power on his swing during the Rangers’ playoff run.

“The surgery went well from what we were told,” general manager Jon Daniels said to MLB.com, adding that Hamilton would return to Texas and should be fully recovered by the time Spring Training begins in late February.

A four-time All-Star, Hamilton batted just .271 (19-for-70) with one home run during the postseason while playing through the injury, though he also managed 13 RBIs and a team-high seven doubles.

“He was definitely uncomfortable in the playoffs,” Daniels said. “In all three rounds it was affecting him.”

Treanor Signs One-Year Deal with Dodgers

Veteran catcher Matt Treanor, who has been on the Rangers’ World Series roster in each of the last two seasons, was signed to a one-year contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

Treanor, 35, spent much of the 2011 season as Kansas City’s starting catcher before being re-acquired by Texas in late August as a backup to Mike Napoli and Yorvit Torrealba.

Rangers Notes: Texas Keeps Rolling After All-Star Break

Derek Holland began the second half strong with his second consecutive complete-game shutout, part of a 5-0 win Thursday in Seattle.

The Rangers extended their season-best win streak to 11 games over the weekend with a four-game sweep over the Mariners at Safeco Field.

Left-hander Derek Holland – who failed to get out of the first inning in a start against Florida earlier this month – bounced back with his second consecutive complete-game shutout on Thursday, part of the Rangers’ 5-0 win over Seattle.

Holland carried a perfect game into the bottom of the sixth before walking Franklin Gutierrez and allowing a single to Chone Figgins, and he faced just six batters over the minimum on the evening.

Outfielder Josh Hamilton provided Texas with an early lead when he hit a solo homer off Mariners starter Jason Vargas in the top of the first. Nelson Cruz followed with his 21^st home run of the season in the second inning, and Michael Young stretched the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the third.

Mike Napoli then connected for a leadoff homer against Vargas in the top of the fifth inning, and Craig Gentry produced the game’s final run when he singled, stole second base, and came in to score on an RBI single from Elvis Andrus.

Meanwhile, Holland scattered five hits over the last four frames and walked only one batter while recording a total of eight strikeouts, becoming the first Texas pitcher to throw back-to-back shutouts since knuckleballer Charlie Hough did so in 1983.

The Rangers received another scoreless outing from their starter on Friday as Colby Lewis tossed eight-plus shutout frames before Neftali Feliz recorded the final out in the ninth.

Adrian Beltre, Endy Chavez and Josh Hamilton each contributed a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the 4-0 Texas win while Michael Young connected for an RBI single in the top of the eighth.

As for Lewis, he allowed just two hits over his first eight frames of work and finished with a total of eight strikeouts, helping to extend the scoreless-innings streak of the Texas pitching staff to 29 dating back to July 9.

Ian Kinsler helped push the Rangers’ win streak to 10 games with a pair of solo home runs Saturday, and Texas received seven quality innings from left-hander C.J. Wilson en route to a 5-1 victory in Seattle.

Kinsler gave the Rangers an early advantage when he homered leading off the ballgame against Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez, who then settled down to retire 15 of the next 16 batters he faced.

Wilson kept Seattle off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Franklin Gutierrez reached on a leadoff single, moved to second on a stolen base, and scored on Ichiro Suzuki’s game-tying single into center field.

The Rangers took the lead back for good, however, on an Elvis Andrus RBI single in the top of the sixth, then added three insurance runs off Hernandez and reliever Jamey Wright in the eighth inning. With one out, Kinsler clubbed his second solo homer of the game to extend the Texas lead to 3-1, and both Andrus and Adrian Beltre singled and eventually came around to score in the frame.

Sunday afternoon saw the Rangers wrap up the four-game sweep with a 3-1 win over the Mariners, powered by a three-run homer from Mitch Moreland and seven-plus quality innings from left-hander Matt Harrison. The victory also helped Texas extend its overall winning streak to 11 games, tied for the second-longest in club history.

Seattle starter Blake Beavan – traded by the Rangers last summer as part of the deal for Cliff Lee – had to work around Dustin Ackley’s two-out error in the first inning, although he was able to strike out Nelson Cruz with the bases loaded to end the threat.

Beavan wasn’t as fortunate in the top of the second, however, as David Murphy singled and Mike Napoli walked against him before Moreland hammered a three-run home run to deep right field, giving Texas a 3-0 lead.

Harrison, on the other hand, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and lasted into the top of the eighth, allowing just one run on five hits while seeing his ERA (2.91) drop into the top 10 in the American League.

Rangers Notes: Texas Sweeps Past Indians in Cleveland

Outfielder Endy Chavez went 11-for-21 with four runs scored and five runs batted in on the Rangers’ recent road trip to Tampa Bay and Cleveland.

The Rangers completed their first four-game road sweep in more than a decade Sunday with a 2-0 victory over the Indians at Progressive Field.

The win was the fifth in a row for Texas, which increased its lead in the A.L. West to 2.5 games over the Seattle Mariners.

In Thursday’s series opener, veteran outfielder Endy Chavez went 4-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored as the Rangers bounced back from an early deficit to beat Cleveland by a final of 7-4.

Right-hander Dave Bush, making a spot start for Texas while Matt Harrison continues to deal with a blister on his throwing hand, retired the Indians in order in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second. Carlos Santana drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on Grady Sizemore’s double, and both came around to score on singles by Travis Buck and Orlando Cabrera. Buck later scored on an infield groundout to give Cleveland a 3-0 lead.

Indians starter Carlos Carrasco retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced before Nelson Cruz led off the top of the fifth with a double. Cruz came home with the Rangers’ first run on a ground ball by Yorvit Torrealba, and Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton added RBI singles in the inning to tie the game at 3-3.

Left-hander Michael Kirkman took over for Bush and kept Cleveland off the board for two innings while Texas scored another three runs. After a sacrifice fly by Torrealba had given the Rangers a slim 4-3 lead with two outs in the sixth, Endy Chavez kept the rally going with an RBI triple into right field. Chavez then scored on an error by Carlos Santana during Ian Kinsler’s at-bat to put Texas in front, 6-3.

Cleveland added a single run in the seventh inning while the Rangers did the same in the ninth for a 7-4 final score.

After collecting a season-high 20 hits last week in Tampa Bay, Texas pounded out another 19 base hits Friday en route to an 11-2 win over the Indians. Right-hander Alexi Ogando remained undefeated in 11 starts this year, limiting Cleveland to one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts across eight innings of work.

The Rangers put together a two-out rally against Indians starter Justin Masterson in the top of the second, as Mitch Moreland and Mike Napoli connected for back-to-back singles before Endy Chavez laced an RBI double into right field. Michael Young added a run-scoring groundout in the third to give Texas a 2-0 lead.

Ogando retired the side in order in three of the first five innings before Cleveland got to him for a run in the sixth. Michael Brantley led off with a single and advanced to third on a hit by Asdrubal Cabrera, then came home when Shin-Soo Choo grounded into a double play to make it a 2-1 game.

In the top of the seventh, however, Masterson allowed a walk and a single before Josh Hamilton lined a three-run home run over the wall in right. Adrian Beltre reached on a fly ball that Brantley and Choo lost in the sun, and Nelson Cruz followed with a two-run homer to extend the Rangers’ lead to 7-1.

Texas added three more runs on a bases-clearing double by Elvis Andrus in the eighth inning and another in the ninth, while Cabrera provided the Indians’ second run with a leadoff homer against Yoshinori Tateyama in the bottom of the ninth.

On Saturday, left-hander Derek Holland tossed a complete-game, four-hit shutout over Cleveland as the Rangers rolled to a 4-0 win. Making his first career start in his home state of Ohio, Holland limited the Indians to five hits and just one walk over nine innings, striking out five while recording 10 ground ball outs.

Texas provided an early lead for him to work with after Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer off Cleveland starter Fausto Carmona in the top of the first. From there, Holland retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced while only once allowing a runner to get past third base.

Carmona settled down following Hamilton’s first-inning home run, keeping the Rangers off the board over the next five frames before surrendering a two-run homer to Nelson Cruz in the top of the seventh.

Holland wrapped up his shutout with a perfect ninth inning, which included a swinging strikeout of Austin Kearns to end the ballgame.

Sparked by early home runs from Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus, the Rangers completed their four-game sweep with a 2-0 victory over the Indians on Sunday afternoon.

Cleveland starter Mitch Talbot worked a scoreless top of the first before yielding a solo home run to Moreland with one out in the second, and Andrus greeted him with a leadoff homer in the third inning to give Texas a 2-0 lead.

Meanwhile, left-hander C.J. Wilson provided 7 and 2/3 shutout innings of work for the Rangers, recording seven strikeouts while allowing just three hits to earn his sixth win of the year.

The last time Texas had swept a four-game series on the road was April 22-25, 1999, against the Minnesota Twins at the old Metrodome in Minneapolis. The Rangers’ four winning pitchers in that series were starters Aaron Sele, Mark Clark, Mike Morgan and Rick Helling.

Matthews Taken in First Round of Draft

With the 33^rd overall pick in this year’s amateur draft, Texas selected left-handed pitcher Kevin Matthews from Richmond Hill High School in Georgia.

Matthews, 18, is considered small at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, but his fastball has been clocked in the low-90s and is said to be offset by a good slider and decent changeup. He went 4-2 with an earned run average of 1.68 in his senior year at Richmond Hill, racking up 94 strikeouts in 42 innings of work over 10 appearances.

Signability may become an issue as Matthews has committed to the University of Virginia, though the Rangers feel confident they can work out a deal with him.

Texas used its second-round pick (No. 37 overall) to select outfielder Zach Cone out of the University of Georgia, where he led the Bulldogs with a .317 batting average, 10 home runs and 53 RBIs as a sophomore in 2010.

Delcarmen Inked to Minor-League Deal

The club made a pair of roster moves at the Triple-A level last Thursday, granting right-hander Yhency Brazoban his unconditional release and signing veteran reliever Manny Delcarmen to a minor-league deal.

Brazoban was signed by Texas in mid-December and had a clause in his contract which allowed him to be released if not promoted to the majors by June 1.

Delcarmen, who had spent the first two months of the season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, possessed a similar out clause as Brazoban and was given his release by Seattle on Wednesday. The 29-year-old was assigned to Triple-A Round Rock by the Rangers.

Across 28 innings pitched for the Tacoma Rainiers this season, Delcarmen posted a record of 2-2 with a 5.14 earned run average in 16 appearances. In parts of six big-league seasons with the Boston Red Sox and, briefly, the Colorado Rockies, Delcarmen has an 11-8 record with a career ERA of 3.97 and three saves.