Perez’s return encouraging, but Rangers strand 10 in loss

The Texas Rangers started the second half with one of their prized possessions back on the field in the form of left-handed pitcher Martin Perez.

Perez made his return to the big leagues Friday night against the Astros at Minute Maid Park after a 14-month recovery process from Tommy John surgery.

Despite taking the loss as the Astros held on for a 3-2 victory, it was an encouraging first outing for Perez.

“I thought I did a great job,” Perez said. “A couple of mistakes — I was trying to get the ball down and they came up. That was part of the adrenaline. But I did my best. It’s different here than Triple A. You can’t miss a pitch here. This tells me I can compete up here. I can do the job. It was a great night. We didn’t get the win but I thought I did a good job.”

While Perez was making his long-awaited return, another important piece of the Rangers’ postseason hopes, outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, was on the bench.

Instead, Rangers manager Jeff Banister went with Josh Hamilton in right field (his second start there this season), Leonys Martin in center and rookie Delino DeShields in left.

“We just feel like that’s the three guys we need out there tonight,” Banister said before the game. “Those are the three we’re going to go with coming out of the break.”

Banister insisted Choo’s place on the bench had nothing to do with his misplay in right in the Rangers’ final game before the break. A play in which a grounder deflected off first baseman Mitch Moreland and rolled slowly out toward Choo, who watched as second baseman Rougned Odor chased it down. Whether is was miscommunication between Choo and Odor or just an old-fashioned mental lapse by Choo, Banister acknowledge it didn’t look good.

“I believe he handled the press after the game and he said what he needed to say and we moved on,” Banister said. “That play had no bearing on our lineup today. We’ve talked about that and we feel that’s a non-issue at this point. We’ve moved on. That’s the one thing we’ve done well all year long.”

More to the point, Choo has been struggling at the plate. His batting average has dipped to .221.

“He’s the manager. I respect his lineup,” Choo said after the game. “Everybody wants to play so I want to play, too.”

Banister said before the game that he expected Choo would be used as a pinch hitter off the bench. But when the time came in the ninth, catcher Tomas Telis hit for Robinson Chirinos to start the inning. He struck out on four pitches. Banister explained that he didn’t want to make a double switch, which would have been necessary if Choo had hit for Chirinos.

“I was getting ready the whole game, I hit in the cage,” said Choo, who expects to be in Saturday’s lineup.

The Rangers collected 15 hits but saw their recent trend of failing to hit with runners in scoring position continue. Texas left 10 runners on and was 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

“If we continue [collecting that many hits] we’ll start getting hits with guys in scoring position,” said Hamilton, who nearly tied the game with a two-run homer in the sixth but right fielder Colby Rasmus made the catch at the top of the wall. “That’s all we can do.”

The Rangers had the tying run on second in Elvis Andrus in the eighth after pulling to within 3-2 on consecutive doubles by Moreland and Andrus. But Martin, who went 0 for 4, struck out to end the inning.

In the ninth, Odor reached on an infield single, but Prince Fielder’s hard grounder was stopped by shortstop Carlos Correa, who made the throw to first to end the game.

The Astros snapped a six-game losing streak. The Rangers have lost eight of their past nine.

“To come away empty and strand 10 runners, it’s been our nemesis through this whole stretch, not being able to get the big hit when we need it,” Banister said.

“You got to believe if you put 15 hits on the board and continue to do that we’re going to score some runs.”

This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Perez’s return encouraging, but Rangers strand 10 in loss."