Rangers Notes: Crazy Finish Seals Series Win versus Athletics

A.J. Pierzynski (left) applies the tag on Oakland’s Josh Donaldson for the final out of Thursday’s 4-3 win over the A’s in Arlington.

After a terrible start to their season-long 11-game homestand, the Rangers won three out of four against Oakland this week to save face and pull to within one game of the American League West-leading A’s.

The series victory was clinched with a 4-3 win over Oakland in Thursday afternoon’s finale at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, a back-and-forth contest that featured three different comebacks by Texas and ended on a wild play at home plate.

The Athletics broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth inning when John Jaso doubled and was driven in on Jed Lowrie’s RBI single, but catcher Geovany Soto pulled the Rangers even with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame.

Each team scored once in the sixth, and Oakland went back in front, 3-2, on a throwing error by Elvis Andrus in the seventh. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Leonys Martin loaded the bases with a hustling infield single, and Ian Kinsler followed with a go-ahead two-run single off reliever Sean Doolittle.

Closer Joe Nathan made quick work of the first two batters he faced in the ninth before Josh Donaldson connected for a base hit to put the tying run on. Seth Smith then hit a single that was bobbled by center fielder Craig Gentry, and Donaldson was thrown out at home plate by Andrus to end the game when he tried to score all the way from first base.

“It was a well-fought game,” Kinsler said afterward. “Both managers made a lot of moves. To come out on top of a game like that, especially against [the Athletics], is big.”

Prior to Thursday’s whirlwind matinee, Texas had won two of the first three versus Oakland, beginning with another dramatic one-run victory on Monday.

Right-hander Nick Tepesch could not hold an early 3-0 lead as the Athletics got to him for six earned runs in the fourth inning. A.J. Pierzynski pulled the Rangers to within one with an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth, and Nelson Cruz followed with his second home run of the night to put Texas back in front.

Cruz later added an RBI double off southpaw Jerry Blevins to give the Rangers a two-run advantage, and Joe Nathan yielded a run-scoring sacrifice fly to Coco Crip in the ninth but held on to secure the 8-7 win.

Yu Darvish recorded 10 strikeouts Tuesday but also allowed five runs in his six innings of work, and Texas was limited to just three hits by Jarrod Parker and the Oakland bullpen in a 6-2 loss to the A’s.

On Wednesday it was Lance Berkman’s two-run homer that gave the Rangers an early lead in the second, and the offense would continue to add more runs as the game progressed for a 9-4 Texas victory.

Chirinos, Ortiz Added to Roster

Catcher Robinson Chirinos was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock Tuesday when utility man Jeff Baker was placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to Jun. 13) with a sprained right thumb.

Baker sustained the injury a week ago when his thumb was bent backwards by an unnamed teammate giving a celebratory high-five last Thursday against the Blue Jays.

As for Chirinos, he had appeared in three games with the Rangers earlier this season while backstop A.J. Pierzynski was on the DL, and he showed his versatility by starting at first base each of the past two nights versus Oakland.

Left-hander Joe Ortiz was also recalled from Round Rock on Tuesday as first baseman Chris McGuiness was optioned to Triple-A, giving Texas a third southpaw out of the bullpen along with Neal Cotts and Robbie Ross.

Moreland Returns; Tateyama Dealt to Yankees

Before starting a six-game road trip to St. Louis and New York, the Rangers activated first baseman Mitch Moreland from the 15-day disabled list Friday morning and optioned right-hander Josh Lindblom back to Round Rock in a corresponding roster move.

A strained right hamstring had kept Moreland on the DL for the past two weeks, with Chris McGuiness and Jeff Baker sharing most of the playing time at first base since then.

In addition, right-handed reliever Yoshinori Tateyama was sent to the New York Yankees in exchange for “future considerations.” The 37-year-old Tateyama made 53 appearances for Texas over the past two seasons, going 3-0 with a 5.75 earned run average.

Rangers Notes: Cactus League Update No. 3

Although he won’t be in the starting rotation to begin the season, Michael Kirkman looks to fill an important swing role out of the bullpen.

Aside from one final split-squad game this afternoon against the Diamondbacks, Texas is finished with the lengthy Arizona portion of spring training and has only exhibition games remaining versus the Mexico City Red Devils and San Diego Padres before the season begins.

Matt Harrison will get his first Opening Day start when the Rangers travel to Houston to face their new American League West rivals in front of a national television audience Sunday evening at Minute Maid Park.

Harrison will be tentatively followed in the rotation by right-handers Yu Darvish and Alexi Ogando and left-hander Derek Holland, who is set to start the home opener on Friday, Apr. 5, against the Los Angeles Angels.

The fifth starter for Texas is going to be 24-year-old righty Nick Tepesch, a non-roster invitee who impressed with early spring training numbers and won the role over southpaws Michael Kirkman and Robbie Ross, both of whom will begin the season in the bullpen.

As far as position battles go, infielders Jeff Baker and Leury Garcia have each made the Rangers’ Opening Day roster while Jurickson Profar was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock, where he is more likely to see regular playing time than he would in the majors.

Along with Profar, Texas also sent outfielder Jim Adduci, pitcher Nate Robertson and catcher Eli Whiteside to Round Rock earlier this week.

Utility player Brandon Snyder, meanwhile, requested and was granted his release following Wednesday’s loss to Arizona. Snyder batted .154 with five runs scored and nine strikeouts in 18 Cactus League games this spring.

Grimm, Wells Optioned to Minors

Right-handers Justin Grimm and Randy Wells were both told last Friday that they will start the year pitching at Triple-A Round Rock, where they could be mainstays of the Express’ rotation at the outset of the season.

Grimm and Wells were among a small group being considered for the No. 5 starter role, but they were the odd men out when the Rangers revealed that Nick Tepesch had made the rotation.

On Saturday, the team sent infielder Yangervis Solarte and pitchers Lisalverto Bonilla and Ben Rowen to minor-league camp, and Texas also announced that it had released catcher Konrad Schmidt.

Mills Acquired on Waiver Claim

The Rangers picked up left-hander Brad Mills from the Los Angeles Angels on a waiver claim Sunday, moving injured righty Neftali Feliz to the 60-day disabled list in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for Mills.

Appropriately, Mills faced his former Los Angeles teammates Wednesday in his lone Cactus League outing for Texas, getting the start and throwing four innings of one-run ball. Mills allowed four hits and a walk while recording three strikeouts in the game.

Over parts of the last four seasons with Toronto and the Angels, Mills has a career record of 3-3 with a 1.65 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He is not likely to break camp with the big-league club, but Mills could feasibly provide added starting rotation depth at Triple-A.

Texas Releases, Then Re-Signs Tateyama

Right-handed relief pitcher Yoshinori Tateyama was released by the Rangers on Friday morning, only to be re-signed to a minor-league contract two days later.

Tateyama, 37, had been in big-league camp with Texas this spring, but he was sent over to the minors early last week after posting a 3.60 earned run average across five relief appearances in Cactus League action.

Following a breakout 2011 campaign, the Japanese veteran got into just 14 games for the Rangers last season and saw his ERA jump to 9.00, with a good portion of the damage coming in two disastrous mid-summer outings against the Mariners and Chicago White Sox.

Rangers Notes: Long Camp Begins to Wind Down

David Murphy, batting .333 with six RBIs this spring, is set to take over as the everyday left fielder.

With the World Baseball Classic having come and passed, Texas once again has a full roster in Surprise, Ariz., and is continuing to prepare for the season opener against Houston, now just 10 short days away.

No decision has been formally announced regarding the Rangers’ Opening Day starter, but left-hander Matt Harrison would be on schedule to get ball Mar. 31 at Minute Maid Park versus the Astros.

Righty Yu Darvish was a late scratch from his scheduled appearance Monday night against Kansas City, citing mild stiffness in his neck and saying that “If this was a regular season game, I would start.”

Darvish and Harrison figure to lead a near-complete Texas rotation (lacking only a clear No. 5 starter at this point), but there are still several bullpen roles to be won by any among a slew of candidates, among them right-handers Justin Grimm, Josh Lindblom, Evan Meek, Tanner Scheppers and Coty Woods and southpaws Michael Kirkman and Nate Robertson.

Internally, the fifth starting spot has come down to a competition between left-hander Robbie Ross and non-roster invitee Nick Tepesch, although Jon Heyman of CBS Sports recently indicated the Rangers are mulling outside options such as free agent Kyle Lohse and Detroit’s Rick Porcello.

As for the rest of the club, Texas has a split record of 12-12 with two ties through roughly four weeks of Cactus League games, and the Rangers also rank near the middle of the pack in both team batting average (.274) and ERA (4.59).

Depending on how many pitchers Texas carries to begin the season, there could be up to three bench spots yet to be claimed, with Jim Adduci, Jeff Baker, Julio Borbon, Leury Garcia, Jurickson Profar and Yangervis Solarte still in the hunt.

Spring Roster Trimmed by Thirteen

On Tuesday, the club brought the number of players on its current spring roster down to 45 by announcing 13 in-house transactions, sending four players to Triple-A Round Rock and reassigning nine others to minor-league camp.

The biggest name of those optioned to Triple-A was infield prospect Mike Olt, who endured a subpar Cactus League season with just six hits in 31 at-bats (.194) and a team-worst 12 strikeouts. Also sent to Round Rock were left-handed pitcher Jeff Beliveau, outfielder Engel Beltre and right-hander Wilmer Font.

Before Tuesday’s game against the Cubs, the Rangers reassigned eight players to their minor-league camp, then did the same with outfielder Aaron Cunningham after the game.

The original eight included left-hander Neal Cotts, right-handers Collin Balester, Evan Meek and Yoshinori Tateyama, catchers Juan Apodaca and Jose Felix and infielders Brandon Allen and Brandon Snyder.

McClellan Sidelined by Lat Injury

Right-handed pitcher Kyle McClellan was supposed to get his second start of the spring on Sunday against the Mariners, but it was announced Saturday that he had instead been diagnosed with a strained lat muscle in his throwing shoulder.

Making an outside bid to claim a spot in the Rangers’ bullpen or rotation, the 28-year-old McClellan had already missed the first three weeks of camp while rehabbing from a season-ending shoulder procedure last July with the Cardinals.

“Kyle will remain in camp … and he wants to stay part of this franchise moving forward,” assistant GM Thad Levine said. “We anticipate him to rehab with us and make an impact with us, just maybe a little bit later than we anticipated.”

McClellan, who tossed two scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers in his only Cactus League outing this spring, is not expected to resume throwing for up to a month.

Rangers Notes: Veteran Pierzynski Joins Texas Lineup

A.J. Pierzynski is expected to get the majority of playing time behind the plate for Texas in 2013.

While former Rangers catcher Mike Napoli has yet to finalize his reported deal with the Red Sox, Texas added a full-time backstop to its roster Wednesday by officially signing free-agent A.J. Pierzynski to a one-year contract worth $7.5 million.

A left-handed batter, Pierzynski will likely get most of the starts at catcher for the Rangers next season, although he could see time as the club’s designated hitter as well.

Pierzynski, who will turn 36 next week, began his career with Minnesota before spending one year in San Francisco and the last eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox, for whom he batted .278 with 18 doubles, 27 home runs, 77 RBIs and a .501 slugging percentage in 2012.

The homers and runs batted in totals both marked career highs and earned a Silver Slugger award for Pierzynski, a two-time All-Star who played a key role in Chicago’s 2005 World Series victory over the Houston Astros.

“I go out there and play every day to try and win,” he said. “I’ll do everything in my power to try to win. … I take pride in going out there every day and I take pride in giving everything I have.”

Pierzynski is expected to replace Napoli as the full-time catcher for Texas, with the right-handed-hitting Geovany Soto again handling backup duties.

“A.J. is signing as our guy,” manager Ron Washington said Wednesday during an introductory press conference call. “[Soto] will get playing time, but A.J. will be the front-runner.”

Soto, a former National League Rookie of the Year who was acquired from the Cubs in a deadline deal for right-hander Jake Brigham, hit just .196 in his 47 games with the Rangers following the July trade.

To clear a spot on the club’s active roster for Pierzynski, catcher Luis Martinez was designated for assignment Wednesday by Texas.

Martinez, 27, appeared in 10 big-league games last season while serving as the primary backstop for Triple-A Round Rock.

Tateyama Signed to Minor-League Contract

Right-handed reliever Yoshinori Tateyama agreed to a minor-league deal with the Rangers on Thursday that includes an invitation to spring training next February in Surprise, Ariz.

Tateyama, who turns 37 years old today, had his mutual option declined by Texas at the end of last season, thus making him an unrestricted free agent.

A native of Osaka, Japan, Tateyama was less effective last year than he had been in 2011, when he posted an earned run average of 4.50 with 43 strikeouts across 44 innings of work.

In 2012, Tateyama saw action in just 14 big-league games with the Rangers while spending much of the season with the Round Rock Express, going 4-0 with six saves and a 1.13 ERA over 32 relief appearances.

Rangers Claim Beliveau from Cubs

Texas announced Friday that it had acquired left-hander Jeff Beliveau off waivers from the Chicago Cubs, who had designated him for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster for infielder Ian Stewart.

The 25-year-old Beliveau made his major-league debut with the Cubs last season, seeing action in 22 games out of Chicago’s bullpen and logging just under 18 innings pitched.

Beliveau earned his first big-league victory on Sept. 16 against the Pirates, although for the season he turned in an ERA of 4.58 and was a bit homer-prone, yielding five long balls to go with 12 walks and 17 strikeouts.

He is one of six lefty relievers on the Rangers’ current roster who will look to earn a spot in the team’s bullpen next spring, a group that also includes Tommy Hottovy, Michael Kirkman, Joe Ortiz, Martin Perez and Robbie Ross.

Rangers Notes: Beltre Picks up Fourth Gold Glove Award

Adrian Beltre led all A.L. third basemen with a fielding percentage of .974 in 2012, committing just eight errors in 312 total chances.

Third baseman Adrian Beltre was named the American League recipient of this year’s Rawlings Gold Glove Award for his position on Tuesday, marking the fourth time in his career — and second season in a row — that he has won the award.

Beltre joins Rangers Hall of Famer Buddy Bell as the only Texas third basemen to win a Gold Glove, as Bell did so for six consecutive years spanning from 1979 to 1984. He is also the first Ranger to be awarded back-to-back Gold Gloves since first baseman Mark Teixeira in 2005-06.

With only eight errors in 312 total chances this season, Beltre paced the A.L. with a .974 fielding percentage, just a shade below his career-best figure of .978 set in 2004 with the Dodgers (a year that he did not win a Gold Glove, interestingly).

“It’s nice to be recognized for what you’ve done defensively for your team,” Beltre said via conference call. “This one was [tougher] because I went through more of a physical challenge. It is special and I’m happy to be recognized for this.”

Early in the season, the 33-year-old Beltre missed a handful of games with a strained left hamstring, then played through an abdominal scar tissue problem in September before starting the final three regular-season games at designated hitter.

“He’s the best I’ve ever seen,” Texas manager Ron Washington said last month. “He does everything with his hands …  He moves to the ball, but he doesn’t use his feet to catch balls. He catches balls flat-footed.

“Those are things you don’t want to teach people. But he’s accurate and knows what he’s doing. He’s an unorthodox guy with great hands. And I mean great hands.”

Along with Beltre, the Rangers had two other Gold Glove finalists in shortstop Elvis Andrus and left fielder David Murphy, who lost out to Baltimore’s J.J. Hardy and Kansas City’s Alex Gordon, respectively.

Club Declines Options on Feldman, Tateyama

Texas announced Tuesday that it will not exercise the 2013 club options for right-handers Scott Feldman and Yoshinori Tateyama, thus making both pitchers unrestricted free agents.

Feldman, 29, was drafted by the Rangers in 2003 and has spent his entire career to this point in the Texas organization, posting a composite record of 39-44 spanning 204 appearances over the last eight seasons.

After going 17-8 and being named the Rangers Pitcher of the Year in 2009, Feldman was tabbed the club’s Opening Day starter the following season, although he dropped to 7-11 and saw his earned run average climb to 5.48 across 29 games in 2010.

As for Tateyama, the 36-year-old reliever was effective during the first of his two seasons with Texas, making 39 appearances with a 2-0 record out of the bullpen in 2011, but he was limited to just 14 games this year due to injuries.

(UPDATE: Rangers Make Qualifying Offer to Hamilton)

In a move with potential free-agent implications, Texas made a qualifying offer worth $13.3 million to outfielder Josh Hamilton on Friday, although the team did not exercise the same option with catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli.

While Hamilton is expected to decline the club’s offer and test the open market, the Rangers will at least receive a compensation pick in next year’s amateur draft should he sign with another team.

Texas did not extend such an offer to Napoli — who is likely to draw plenty of offseason market interest of his own — or any of the club’s other free agents.