ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill starts for the Texas Rangers against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CT. He will be pitching six days after his back tightened in Arizona. Manager Skip Schumaker said Saturday’s start will be the first time he has seen Quantrill throw with any intent since then.
Schumaker made the comments on The Skip Schumaker Show, the pregame segment Rangers Sports Network posts. Catch play and very limited bullpens are all the Rangers have been watching from their starters, he said, and every one of them is day-to-day.
“I think all our starters right now, quite honestly, are day-to-day and talking with each one of them and seeing how they feel,” Schumaker said. “Their catch play and their very, very limited bullpens are kind of the only thing that we’re watching, but they’re not real intense. So when you watch him throw tonight, it will be the first time I’ll see him throw with any sort of intent behind it.”
“He says he feels ready to go. So I think at this point of the season, he’s just ready to go out and fight,” Schumaker continued. “And that’s just kind of who he is. His mentality is whatever the team needs, I’m going to give everything he has, and he’s going to do that.”
Cal Quantrill’s Back Tightened Sunday At Chase Field
Quantrill’s back tightened after the fifth inning last Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he still finished 6 innings in a 7-6 win. He allowed 5 hits and 2 earned runs with no walks and 4 strikeouts on 70 pitches. On Thursday, he threw about 10 pitches off the slope and was cleared for his next start.
Quantrill is 9-5 with a 2.90 ERA over 31 appearances, 14 of them starts, and 108 2/3 innings. Since the start of August, he has a 1.80 ERA over nine games, eight of them starts. In three career starts against Toronto, he has a 1.59 ERA and 21 strikeouts. The Port Hope, Ontario, native’s father, Paul Quantrill, pitched for the Blue Jays from 1996 to 2001 and was an All-Star in 2001.
On June 27 in Toronto, Quantrill threw 4 scoreless innings in relief, allowing 2 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts in a 7-4 win.
Texas Rangers Rotation Has Been Day-To-Day Since Last Week
Jacob deGrom starts Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. CT finale. He made his first start Tuesday since groin tightness at Seattle, going 5 innings and allowing 3 hits, 2 runs, and 1 walk with 8 strikeouts on 92 pitches. Schumaker said afterward that deGrom did not feel 100%.
The Rangers are also weighing Nathan Eovaldi’s health and role on a day-to-day basis over the final stretch. Texas used Tyler Alexander as an opener Thursday against the Boston Red Sox. On Friday, Kumar Rocker lasted 4 1/3 innings before the bullpen covered the rest.
Quantrill faces José Soriano (12-7, 3.56 ERA) on Rangers Sports Network. Texas (77-77) is tied with the Houston Astros atop the American League West with eight games left, and Houston holds the tiebreaker.
