ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill left the Texas Rangers‘ game against the Toronto Blue Jays with right lat tightness in the second inning Saturday night at Globe Life Field, the Rangers announced. After a scoreless first inning, Quantrill got the first out of the second before Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs, and head trainer Matt Lucero came to the mound, The Dallas Morning News reported. He left after a brief conversation with them.
That out came on a four-seamer at 87.8 mph, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reported. Quantrill has averaged 93.8 mph on the pitch this season. Landry also reported that Quantrill looked fine walking off the mound.
Before the game, Schumaker said Saturday’s start would be the first time he had seen Quantrill throw with any intent since his back tightened Sept. 13 at Arizona. Left-hander Jordan Montgomery replaced Quantrill, Landry reported, two days after throwing 16 pitches out of the bullpen.
Skip Schumaker Had Not Seen Cal Quantrill Throw With Intent
Schumaker made the comments on The Skip Schumaker Show, the pregame segment Rangers Sports Network posts. Catch play and very limited bullpens were all the Rangers had been watching from their starters, he said.
“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.”
On Sept. 13 at Chase Field, Quantrill’s back tightened after the fifth inning of a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. He finished 6 innings that night, allowing 5 hits and 2 earned runs with 0 walks and 4 strikeouts on 70 pitches. Texas did not place him on the injured list.
On Thursday, Quantrill said his back was fine, Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reported. That day, he threw about 10 pitches off the slope, Schumaker said on the Rangers Sports Network pregame segment before the Boston finale.
“He’s feeling better today,” Schumaker said. “Threw, I don’t know, not too many off the mound, off the slope today. Just out there, maybe 10 pitches total. But he felt good, and he’s ready for his next start.”
With Saturday’s 1 1/3 scoreless innings included, Quantrill has a 2.87 ERA over 109 2/3 innings this season. He entered the night 9-5 with 81 strikeouts in 31 appearances, 14 of them starts. Since the start of August, he had a 1.80 ERA over nine games before Saturday, TSN reported.
Texas Rangers Rotation Already Thin Entering Final Week
Quantrill’s exit came a day after Schumaker said five relievers were unavailable for Friday’s 7-1 series-opening win, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported. Kumar Rocker lasted 4 1/3 innings in that game, and Trevor Williams covered the final 4. Before Saturday’s game, the Rangers placed right-hander Michel Otañez on the 15-day injured list and recalled left-hander Adam Macko from Triple-A Round Rock.
MacKenzie Gore said Saturday that he plans to make his next start after muscle spasms Wednesday against Boston, as long as the next few days of throwing go fine, Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News reported. That start would likely come early in next week’s series against the New York Mets.
Entering Saturday, Texas was 77-77 and tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West, with Houston holding the tiebreaker. The Rangers were also 1 game behind the Chicago White Sox for the third and final American League wild card, according to MLB.com’s postseason tracker. Jacob deGrom starts Sunday’s series finale at 1:35 p.m. CT.
