Edwards’ short stint will serve him well for return to Rangers

Texas Rangers right-hander Jon Edwards will be back in Arlington one day. But for now, he is returning to Triple A Round Rock after one big league appearance in Saturday’s victory.

Right-hander Stolmy Pimentel was added to the 25-man roster after being selected off waivers Saturday from the Pirates.

Edwards, who attended Keller High School, was called on to replace starter Yovani Gallardo with two on and two outs in the sixth.

Edwards struggled to settle down and his command suffered. He walked the only two batters he faced on nine pitches, the second of which forced in an Astros run.

Edwards likely would have been sent down to make room for Pimentel regardless of his outing Saturday night, so the news came as no surprise.

“I think it’s going to be monumental for him to have experienced that, feel what that feels like, be in that type of situation, big crowd, come in with traffic,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “I feel confident he’s going to go down and pitch at the back end of games at Triple A and learn how to pitch when there’s nobody else coming out of that gate.”

Choo returns

Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo was used as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of Sunday’s loss to the Astros and remained in the game in right field.

Choo left Friday’s game early with back spasms, but he has been feeling better and was available off the bench Sunday.

Choo didn’t play Saturday while getting treatment. His swing is not diminished by the back pain, he said. He played catch Sunday morning and still had some pain when he airs it out.

Choo said much of the pain has subsided since Friday. He left the game when it became painful to take deep breaths and to even stand up.

Getting ahead

Ross Detwiler struggled with his command early in the count in his first start Wednesday at Oakland, and he paid the price with too many pitches over the middle of the plate.

The A’s scored eight runs (five earned) on 10 hits in just 4 1/3 innings.

“Once I was throwing strikes, they were kind of over the plate instead of quality strikes,” said Detwiler, who will start the series opener Monday against the Angels. “So I’ll focus on keeping the ball down and hitting spots.”

Consistently falling behind hitters kept giving Oakland batters the leverage.

“Once you get ahead of hitters, you put the pressure on them and they’re kind of in defensive mode instead of up there real comfortable trying to hit a ball hard,” Detwiler said.

Arizona bound

Left-handers Matt Harrison and Martin Perez, both recovering from surgery, will head to Arizona on Thursday to resume their rehab process.

Harrison is scheduled to throw three bullpen sessions, beginning Friday, before moving to live batting practice. He threw 72 pitches, including warmups, in a three-inning bullpen session Saturday. He’ll work up to a 55-pitch bullpen session and eventually to 15-pitch live batting practice.

Both Perez, who is returning from Tommy John surgery, and Harrison, who is returning from spinal fusion surgery, hope to return to the roster in July.

This story was originally published April 12, 2015 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Edwards’ short stint will serve him well for return to Rangers."