SEATTLE — Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said the club is mapping all 18 remaining games at once, and that the map gets redrawn every day on usage, health, and who is coming back.
Nathan Eovaldi‘s live batting practice session Tuesday, about 30 pitches, is one of the moving pieces Schumaker listed.
“We look at everything. So we’re constantly trying to figure out exactly how to get to the finish line, winning and healthy,” Schumaker said. “But it’s all predicated on today. Things can change the next day and the day after that based on usage and based on how guys feel, if they’re healthy, what we have coming. Evo pitched today in a live BP through 30 pitches, felt really good. So there’s a lot of moving parts in this thing.”
“So you always have a plan until you get punched in the mouth, and then things change,” Schumaker continued. “Hopefully we don’t get punched in the mouth, and we can continue with the plan that we have set moving forward.”
Texas placed Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list Aug. 10, retroactive to Aug. 9, with right posterior elbow inflammation. Jack Leiter remains on the 60-day injured list with a right ankle posterior impingement, and his rehab assignment was shut down after biceps soreness following an Aug. 26 relief outing at Round Rock.
Texas Rangers Flipped Cal Quantrill And Cody Bradford
The first visible move was the rotation order. Texas flipped Cal Quantrill and Cody Bradford after Sunday’s game, which put Quantrill in the opener Tuesday night and Bradford on Wednesday afternoon, and set Quantrill up to start twice on the six-game trip through Seattle and Arizona.
Schumaker said the decision came down to how individual pitchers are feeling and doing, and that the club is weighing extra days against pushing arms up.
“There’s a number of things that we’re looking at, trying to get to the finish line and either giving guys breaks or giving guys the best chance for us moving forward, whether that’s an extra day or pushing guys up based on how they’re feeling and how they’re doing,” Schumaker explained. “But it’s about winning, and we’re trying to win today.”
Quantrill is 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA in 29 appearances, 12 of them starts, over 96 2/3 innings with 79 hits and 30 earned runs allowed, 24 walks, and 73 strikeouts. He has a 1.25 ERA over eight outings since July 28 at Tampa Bay.
Bradford is 0-4 with a 4.45 ERA in six starts since Texas reinstated him from the 60-day injured list on Aug. 5. He has thrown 30 1/3 innings and allowed 41 hits and 15 earned runs with 7 walks and 16 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .331 against him.
Jacob deGrom takes the finale Thursday.
Round Rock’s Season Ends Sept. 20
Round Rock closes its regular season Sept. 20, which caps how much rehab time is left for anyone still on the injured list.
Robert Garcia came off the 60-day injured list Monday after one rehab appearance, and right-hander Ben Peoples was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock in the corresponding move. Josh Jung began a rehab assignment with Round Rock on Tuesday and served as the Express designated hitter at Salt Lake.
Rosters expanded from 26 players to 28 on Sept. 1, with the pitcher limit rising from 13 to 14.
Texas opened the trip at 71-73, second in the American League West and two games behind the Houston Astros, and two games out of the third American League wild card spot. The Rangers are 31-41 on the road and 6-17 against AL West opponents away from Globe Life Field.
Texas and the Seattle Mariners opened the three-game series Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park. Both remaining games begin at 3:10 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network, and the Rangers open a three-game series at the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
