SURPRISE, Ariz. — The toe is good to go and Matt Harrison appears to be on track to start Opening Day.
Harrison, who was scratched from his last scheduled start Saturday with inflammation on his second toe on his left foot, worked the first two innings of a “B” game against the Royals on Tuesday morning.He allowed two runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts over his 37-pitch outing.“The toe was good, no pain, no issues,” Harrison said. “Pitching, I felt great. This is the best I felt all spring and I think it’s because I didn’t have to worry about that issue and my legs were back under me and I was able to get better action than the past two games.”Harrison met with Mizuno reps before he pitched and is looking at getting a different style cleat with more support. He had considered getting more customized orthotics for his cleats, but taped the area well enough to pitch.Harrison expects to pitch again on Saturday in Arizona, as he won’t make the weekend trip to Las Vegas. He does not know if he’ll pitch in the exhibition game or a minor-league game, though.Still, if Harrison pitches Saturday, he would be in line to start the season-opener against the Astros on March 31 in Houston. His remaining Cactus League starts would be on March 21 and 26, leaving him the standard four days’ rest before the regular season starts.Harrison has not been told he’s the Opening Day starter, though.“They haven’t said anything about that yet,” Harrison said.Promotions and cutsA wide-open competition remains for four bullpen spots, and the Rangers added two more to the mix by promoting Ben Rowen and Lisalverto Bonilla to big-league camp.Rowen, a submarine pitcher with a Chad Bradford-like delivery, spent last season at High A Myrtle Beach, posting a 1.57 ERA with 19 saves.Bonilla, a right-hander, was part of the package the Phillies sent in exchange for Michael Young this winter. He had stints last year with Double A Reading (1.64 ERA in 21 appearances) and High A Clearwater (1.35 ERA in 10 appearances).“Good way to start the day,” Rowen said. “I’m a submarine pitcher so it’s something that guys don’t see very often. I go in there and try to get groundballs.”The Rangers signed Derek Lowe to a minor-league contract last week as a relief candidate, as well.The Rangers also made four cuts. They optioned right-hander Neil Ramirez to Triple A Round Rock, right-hander Justin Miller to Double A Frisco and assigned outfielder Joey Butler and right-hander Jake Brigham to minor-league camp.Investigation updateMLB is continuing its investigation into whether players, including Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, received banned substances from an anti-aging clinic in the Miami area.But MLB will not receive cooperation from the Miami New Times , the newspaper that reported the story in late January. MLB had asked the New Times to release documents to aid its investigation, but the paper has declined to do so.“While we appreciate the New Times consideration, we have been proceeding with our investigation as if we were not going to be getting the documents from them,” MLB spokesperson Pat Courtney said in an email.There is no timetable for MLB to complete its investigation.Cruz, who is playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, has denied the allegations that he purchased and received banned substances.However, if MLB deems that Cruz did purchase performance-enhancing drugs, he could be slapped with a 50-game suspension for a first-time offense. Welcome backElvis Andrus returned to camp Tuesday morning, a couple days after his native Venezuelan team was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic.Andrus admitted he received his fair share of grief from teammates, but took it all in stride.“As soon as we lost the second game, [Adrian Beltre] said we’ve got a stretch at 9:30 a.m. Monday,” Andrus said. “But it was a great experience for me. It was a lot of fun.”Andrus was disappointed Venezuela didn’t advance to the second round, but projected an Italy-Netherlands final.Andrus needed little recovery time. He started on Tuesday, batting lead off and playing shortstop.“I feel good,” Andrus said. “We’re off [today] anyways.”Outfielder Engel Beltre, who played for Spain, is also back in camp.Drew Davison, 817-390-7760 Twitter: @drewdavison
