Rangers notes: Gonzalez falters with command after solo blast
Chi Chi Gonzalez was breezing through the powerful Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup when Josh Donaldson turned on a pitch left out over the plate.
Donaldson’s solo homer in the fourth inning brought an abrupt end to Gonzalez’s perfect start after retiring the first 10 batters he faced.
He walked a couple of batters with two outs but escaped the inning trailing just 1-0.
“There’s a lot of things that go through your mind as a young pitcher. You have no hits on the board, you’re cruising and all of a sudden you give up a 3-2 home run,” manager Jeff Banister said. “I think Chi Chi was fine. He settled in and pitched well enough and gave us an opportunity to get back in the ballgame.”
The lingering effects of the homer returned in the fifth, however, as the Blue Jays scored two more to take a 3-0 lead. A leadoff walk, a one-out double, and two more singles did the damage before Gonzalez forced a groundout to third to end the inning.
“It threw me off a little bit, off my game,” said Gonzalez, who dropped to 2-3. “Made me more cautious, instead of just attacking, I started nitpicking. It just rattled me giving up a run, you never want to give up a run. Ball was left middle and he hit it. I got away from my game, started elevating balls.”
Gonzalez pitched a perfect sixth for his fourth quality start in six games.
“I got back to getting ahead of guys,” he said. “Slowed it down, threw to the glove.”
Multihit Prince
Prince Fielder increased his major league-leading multihit games to 33 with two singles Sunday. He has two hits in each of his past five games, tying his career-long multihit streak.
He’s in the top two in the American League with 101 hits and leads with a .351 batting average.
Harrison’s return
Left-hander Matt Harrison is scheduled to make his final rehab start with Triple A Round Rock on Wednesday in Iowa before rejoining the Rangers later this week.
Harrison threw a 25-pitch bullpen session before Sunday’s game in Toronto in front of pitching coach Mike Maddux. Harrison (spinal fusion surgery) feels ready to return, from both a pitching and health perspective.
“It’s just about making my repetitions [on the mound], getting my work in,” Harrison said of Wednesday’s start, in which he’s expected to throw around 100 pitches. “I’m confident that’s all I need.”
The Rangers must activate or release Harrison when his rehab assignment concludes Friday. Harrison said he would not agree to an extended rehab stint.
Briefly
▪ Left-hander Martin Perez (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled to make another rehab start for Round Rock in Iowa on Thursday.
▪ Right-hander Dillon Tate, the Rangers’ top draft pick and No. 4 overall selection, is scheduled to make his next appearance on Saturday for Spokane.
▪ Outfielder Antoan Richardson (back surgery) played in an Arizona League game for the first time since having a herniated disk repaired in late March. Richardson was signed to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp earlier in March.
Stefan Stevenson, 817-390-7760
Twitter: @StevensonFWST
This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Gonzalez falters with command after solo blast."