Rangers notes: Lewis putting together another steady season

Colby Lewis is back in one of those grooves. After being shelled for 10 runs in four innings against the Los Angeles Angels on July 5, Lewis has held opponents to seven runs in his last 22 innings.

There’s no magical formula, Lewis said, to his past three solid starts.

In fact, Lewis, who starts Wednesday’s game against the New York Yankees, has been as steady as any member of the rotation.

His ERA is at 4.49 because of two bad starts in which he gave up 19 runs in a combined 62/3 innings, including that 10-run meltdown against the Angels.

He’s allowed more than four runs in only five of his 20 starts. He’s gone at least six innings and held teams to three or fewer runs in 15 games.

“You know what you have that day,” Lewis said. “You try to get through it when you don’t have much and other days you get it handed to you. I’ve had it handed to me a couple times this year. You can’t really dwell on that kind of stuff or be overly confident when you do well.”

It’s a long season, the veteran said. “You want to keep that even keel and easy tempo and not let yourself get too high or too low.”

Rotation set

The Rangers announced their pitching rotation the rest of the week. Yovani Gallardo will start Thursday’s series finale against the Yankees. Nick Martinez, Matt Harrison and Martin Perez will pitch Friday-Saturday-Sunday against the San Francisco Giants.

DeShields signing

Rangers outfielder Delino DeShields will sign autographs at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Whataburger at 125 Sycamore School Road, just west of I-35 in south Fort Worth.

Key stat

14 July appearances for reliever Sam Freeman, the most in the majors before Tuesday’s games. Freeman hasn’t allowed a run in his last 10 innings and opponents are 4 for 32 against him. He’s struck out 14 and walked six.

Quotable

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Lewis putting together another steady season."