Rangers’ Perez zeroes in on cutting out walks

The biggest thing to come out of Martin Perez’s start Saturday at Seattle isn’t that he took a fourth consecutive loss to see his record fall to 1-5.

The left-hander logged another quality start along the way, and the key to it was that he didn’t issue a walk after allowing 19 free passes in his first six starts for the Texas Rangers.

A mechanical adjustment helped get Perez dialed into the strike zone, as well as a mental adjustment. He believes that he should be one of the best lefties in the American League, but walking hitters was keeping him from reaching his lofty expectations.

So, his plan Thursday against the San Diego Padres is to fill up the strike zone.

“I’m not going to walk anybody,” Perez said. “I’m going to throw the ball in the middle, and if they get hit the ball, good. If not, I get the outs.”

Perez hasn’t allowed more than four runs in any of his four starts, but he hasn’t thrown more than six innings. He has three quality starts, one of 5 1/3 scoreless and another with one run in five innings.

He part of a Rangers rotation that entered Wednesday with the best ERA (3.36) in the major leagues. Perez expects that he will begin trending upward.

“I’m feeling good. My arm is good,” Perez said. “I don’t have a good record right now, but it’s coming. If I continue to feel like how I feel right now, I can go 200 innings and make my 33 starts. That’s my goal right now. I want to give my team a chance to win every time.”

The rotation could be closer to getting a boost. Right-hander Tyson Ross will toss three innings Saturday at extending spring training and then four inning five days later before joining an affiliate.

He could join the rotation either in late May or early June.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Rangers’ Perez zeroes in on cutting out walks."