SURPRISE, Ariz. — Opening Day is two weeks away and all signs point to Matt Harrison being the Texas Rangers’ starter that Sunday night against the Astros.
Harrison looked in mid-season form Saturday afternoon. The first two batters reached on a single and an error, but those were the lone base-runners Harrison allowed in the Rangers’ 4-0 victory over the Dodgers at Surprise Stadium.Harrison worked five scoreless innings with no walks and three strikeouts, retiring 14 consecutive batters to end his 57-pitch outing.“I felt good today all around,” Harrison said. “I was able to keep my pitch count down and throw five and then a few more in the bullpen. I’m not in a groove yet, but feel like I’m back on track.”Harrison had no lingering issues with the second toe on his left foot that forced him to skip a start earlier this spring. And, as things are beginning to line up, Harrison is on track to start Opening Day.“He was sharp today and had four good pitches working,” bullpen coach Andy Hawkins said. “He’s really strong right now, couldn’t be happier with Matt.”Even though it was in a meaningless spring training game, Harrison and Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw had a nice pitchers’ duel. Kershaw allowed only two hits over six scoreless innings.“Why don’t we just go ahead and put that guy in the Hall of Fame right now?” Rangers outfielder David Murphy said. “He’s a good pitcher. We battled up there and did what we could, but he looked like he was himself today. We didn’t get anything done.”Once Kershaw exited, the Rangers offense came to life against Dodgers reliever Brandon League in the seventh.Murphy belted his first home run of the spring over the right-field fence. Jeff Baker, Jim Adduci and Greg Miclat had RBI hits later in the inning.Drew Davison, 817-390-7760 Twitter: @drewdavison
