Surprise Five: Matt Moore gets fired up during minor league outing

The Texas Rangers have more questions than answers when it comes to their pitching staff. They have plenty of options for now, but nobody knows what the rotation is going to look like or the bullpen roles with three weeks to go until opening day.

“I know it’s not as straight-lined. It’s complicated, but we knew that going into it,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Every year it’s complicated. … It’s a fun picture to look at and there are some fun options.”

Well, then, let’s have some fun with the Surprise Five.

1. Left-hander Matt Moore is one of the few knowns – he’s going to be in the rotation. Moore pitched in a minor-league game Saturday morning, allowing one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk over 3 2/3 innings. He threw 68 pitches and felt it was a productive outing.

But Moore wasn’t pleased with his lone walk that ended his day. He got animated on the mound and let his frustration out with some choice words in the dugout afterward.

Part of you has to appreciate Moore’s competitive nature even during a minor-league appearance.

“If you don’t take it seriously, you can still get embarrassed,” Moore said. “If we go out on a golf course and I do something that I know is out of character to me or something that I could’ve controlled, I’ll usually have a word or two with myself.

“In that setting right there, I wanted to throw more changeups today, so a 3-2 changeup to that particular hitter, obviously I would’ve liked to finish the day better than that. Probably more of a lack of self control right there knowing that I’m on a backfield with people watching, I should’ve probably kept my cool a little better.

“I’m always trying to do my best and trying to impose whatever my game plan is on that guy regardless of who it is. That’s where some of the frustration goes when I’m not controlling the things I’m good at.”

2. Left-hander Mike Minor had his best outing of the spring Saturday, throwing four scoreless innings vs. the Oakland Athletics.

Minor allowed just one hit with two strikeouts in the 48-pitch outing. It’s a step forward for Minor in his quest to become a starter after spending last season in the Royals bullpen. Minor has made 110 starts in the big leagues, but none since 2014.

“I felt pretty good,” Minor said. “I threw a lot of fastballs for strikes and kind of just attacked the zone, more middle of the plate than corners.”

Minor described it as an “encouraging” outing, but still isn’t pleased with where his curveball is at this point.

“Curveball, for me, is a feel pitch,” Minor said. “I don’t want to float it in there, but I don’t want to bounce it. Today I tried to throw a couple, but it just wasn’t very good.”

3. Martin Perez, who underwent surgery on his non-throwing (right) elbow this off-season, is scheduled to make his first start of the spring on Monday. He’ll pitch in a minor league game so the Rangers can monitor his workload closely.

Perez has thrown as many as 70 pitches in live batting practice, but the Rangers don’t have a firm number on Perez’s pitch count. It will mark his first appearance without a protective screen.

Perez appears to be on track to make the opening day rotation, but the Rangers won’t push him.

“In a vacuum, I want him ready as soon as we can get him,” Banister said. “Big picture? It’s about the total more than the first one.”

4. In other injury news, the Rangers are monitoring reliever Keone Kela closely. Kela hasn’t pitched since Monday and is not scheduled to this weekend.

Kela could be going through a little dead arm period, assistant general manager Jayce Tingler said, and the organization is playing it safe with Kela’s injury history.

Kela had two stints on the disabled list last season with a strained right shoulder.

“He’s got a history of having a little bit of a shoulder, so we want to make sure we do our best to keep him available for us and ready to go,” Banister said. “If that means you back off a little to get him going, that’s part of it, too.”

5. Banister felt the best part of the Rangers’ 8-2 victory on Saturday was the offense's efficiency. The Rangers scored a couple runs in the first inning on an Elvis Andrus homer, and then scored five in the fifth.

There were five singles in the fifth, including RBI singles by Andrus and Joey Gallo.

“The highlight of the day was the ability to string some at-bats together today,” Banister said. “Guys continue to stay aggressive at the plate, not looking to hit the ball out of the ballpark, trying to push it forward as opposed to taking the big swings. We've been efficient. We need to do more of that.”

The eight runs were the third-most for the Rangers this spring. They had a pair of nine-run games March 1.

This story was originally published March 10, 2018 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Surprise Five: Matt Moore gets fired up during minor league outing."