After surviving Yankees, could Rangers take off behind Hamels?

The Texas Rangers played their 50th straight game this season Sunday without Cole Hamels, the first coming May 2 as he was injured warming up in the bullpen for his sixth start.

They hope it’s their last game without the left-hander, who is scheduled to start Monday for the first time in seven weeks.

Hamels hit the 10-day disabled list May 3 with a strained right oblique muscle as the Rangers were sinking in the American League West and seeing the .500 mark slip further away.

A thought, perhaps the thought, was that the Rangers were going to have one tough time remaining a viable playoff contender.

While they didn’t look too sharp at times without Hamels, the Rangers stayed afloat. After surviving against the New York Yankees 7-6 behind three home runs, a key save by Matt Bush and five innings by Nick Martinez, Hamels’ replacement, the Rangers improved to 28-22 since the Hamels injury.

With him back in the rotation, the Rangers might be primed to take off.

“This team’s good,” Hamels said. “Coming in we had a good team. It’s just a matter of guys staying healthy. Obviously, I wasn’t able to do so.

“It’s the longest that I’ve been on the disabled list, the longest I’ve missed time during a season. At the same time, I’ve played the game, I’ve got a lot of innings, I’ve played against the teams numerous times. For me, it’s just get back out there and get the feel and get back in the rhythm of actually getting to participate and help this team win.”

The Rangers built a 7-0 lead largely on the strength of their power — a two-run shot in the first by Adrian Beltre, a three-run shot in the second by Shin-Soo Choo and a solo shot in the fourth by Drew Robinson that served as his first career hit.

Martinez, pitching a few train stops down from his college at Fordham, tossed four scoreless innings and looked to be out of the fifth before a wild pitch on a third strike allowed the inning to continue and opened the door to four Yankees runs.

The Yankees added two more against Jose Leclerc in the seventh, but Keone Kela and Bush worked a scoreless inning apiece in the eighth and ninth.

Bush worked the biggest inning of all, the ninth, to stave off the Yankees’ comeback from a 7-0 hole.

Hamels has been on hand through his DL stint, continuing to travel with the team even though all he could do was receive treatment and try to stay in shape. And try to not go crazy.

“It’s quite boring,” he said. “I’m so routine-oriented during a season just doing my part, and not being able to do so is an aspect of this game you really hope to miss.”

Hamels, though, is no pup. In his 12th season and 343 starts into his career, he understands that he can’t try to be superhuman to open a four-game series against the Cleveland Indians.

He will listen to his body, which has responded favorably to each and every test during the comeback trail, which from a throwing standpoint started May 22 at Boston. Hamels logged two rehab starts with Double A Frisco, including an 81-pitch effort Wednesday over 5  2/3 innings.

“It’s how I feel physically and knowing what my limits are and how I’m responding,” he said. “Everything took really well with the intensity that I was able to put forth in my games and the recovery and response I was able to get after the bullpens and getting into that routine of the five-day schedule.”

Hamels isn’t the only key Rangers contributor to return from the DL in the past month or near a return. Beltre missed the first 51 games of the season. Carlos Gomez, the Rangers’ hottest hitter the past week, missed 26.

Andrew Cashner and Tyson Ross opened the season on the DL. Ross will pitch Tuesday at Progressive Field, and Cashner, back on the DL, could pitch Thursday. Martin Perez and Tony Barnette could return at Chicago to close this 10-game road trip.

The rotation, despite a hiccup to end May and open June, has been the strength of the team. That includes contributions from Martinez.

“We’ve had only one little stretch where we didn’t have anybody really step up,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Other than that, they’ve really performed well. The rotation, pretty much all year, has been a bright spot.

“With all things being equal, and we look at it in a vacuum, you’d like to say all the parts are there when we get Cole and Cashner back.”

Hamels didn’t look at the team’s performance without him in any terms, but he also sees the chance for the Rangers to come together. He’s been out long enough and wants to do his part.

He starts again Monday after the Rangers enjoyed a successful weekend in the Bronx.

“Guys are getting into a rhythm and getting their feel,” Hamels said. “It’ll be a pretty good time to have everybody back in the rotation healthy, back in the lineup healthy, and putting out the team that we envisioned. It’s just a matter of getting out there and remaining intact.”

This story was originally published June 25, 2017 at 5:28 PM with the headline "After surviving Yankees, could Rangers take off behind Hamels?."