ARLINGTON, Texas — Cal Quantrill will have an MRI on Sunday, Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said after Saturday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Schumaker said there was “no real update” on the right-hander yet.
Quantrill left with right lat tightness after getting one out in the second inning at Globe Life Field. He faced 4 batters. His last pitch was a four-seamer at 87.8 mph, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com reported, and he has averaged 93.8 mph on that pitch this season.
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery replaced him, two days after throwing 16 pitches out of the bullpen.
Skip Schumaker Called Every Rangers Starter Day-To-Day Before The Game
On The Skip Schumaker Show, the pregame segment Rangers Sports Network posts, 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. 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 and allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits, with 0 walks and 4 strikeouts on 70 pitches. He threw about 10 pitches off the slope Thursday before being cleared for Saturday.
Texas Rangers Have 7 Games Left After Saturday
Including Saturday’s 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Quantrill has a 2.87 ERA over 109 2/3 innings this season. He entered the night 9-5 with 81 strikeouts over 31 appearances, 14 of them starts.
Jacob deGrom starts Sunday’s series finale against Toronto at 1:35 p.m. CT. Texas is off Monday before the New York Mets visit Globe Life Field from Sept. 22 to 24. The Rangers close the regular season with three games at the Minnesota Twins from Sept. 25 to 27.
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.
