PEORIA, Ariz. — Nelson Cruz experienced chest pains early Friday morning, and the Texas Rangers sent him to a hospital to undergo a battery of tests as a precaution.
All of the tests came back negative, which confirmed the Rangers medical staff’s belief that it was a muscle strain in the chest region. Cruz left the hospital in the afternoon and is expected to resume baseball activities as early as today.Cruz is still scheduled to fly to Florida on Sunday to join the Dominican Republic team for this year’s World Baseball Classic, but will be re-evaluated today.“All the tests came out OK, so we just have to wait and see how he feels [today] and what the medical staff says about it,” Ron Washington said.Cruz has played in five Cactus League games, batting .214 with one home run and five RBIs. The 32-year-old right fielder is coming off a season in which he played in 159 games, batting .260 with 24 home runs and 90 RBIs.Lewis throwsColby Lewis threw his first bullpen session since having season-ending flexor tendon surgery in July. He threw about 25 pitches, and even unleashed a couple of breaking balls and sliders.“Better than I thought it was going to go,” Lewis said. “My mechanics felt really good. I definitely felt better body-wise than I did on the half-mound [Monday].”Lewis will throw another bullpen session in three or four days and his plan will go according to his health. He has had no setbacks so far during his rehab and would like to keep it that way.Beltre undecidedOutfielder Engel Beltre has not made a decision whether he will play for Spain in the World Baseball Classic. He wants to and was optimistic about it Friday, as his left shoulder strain has improved significantly.The Rangers, though, could be hesitant to send Beltre out of camp and into a situation where he could immediately ramp up to playing full games. But Ron Washington said the team will know more today as Beltre is expected to play. If all goes well, Beltre will have the green light to go.Slider out?Spring training is a time to work on things, and Matt Harrison went into his first start wanting to use his slider more. The results weren’t pretty. He gave up four runs on six hits over one inning last Sunday.Harrison is taking a different approach into Saturday’s start against the D-backs.“Just go back to what I was doing before and go with that,” Harrison said. “And I’ll mix in the slider when I can. I don’t want to get too caught up in the slider and get away from what I normally do.”Harrison has traditionally thrown three pitches — fastball, curveball and changeup — but believes the slider would be a nice addition as a pitch to get left-handers to chase away.More injury newsAdrian Beltre, slowed by right calf inflammation, is feeling better and getting closer to making his spring debut.Manager Ron Washington wasn’t ready to reveal the target date for Beltre, though, simply saying: “We’re almost there.”Beltre isn’t too concerned about missing spring games. He said he doesn’t need too many at-bats to find his swing.Lance Berkman, meanwhile, came out of Thursday’s start with no issues. He is scheduled to start again Saturday.On the pitching front, Kyle McClellan (shoulder soreness) threw off a half-mound Friday and could be ready for a bullpen session Sunday.“I’m definitely encouraged,” McClellan said. “I’ll throw a couple bullpens and live BPs and see where it takes us.”Drew Davison, 817-390-7760 Twitter: @drewdavison
