Rangers notes: After rough night, Scheppers put on DL with left knee soreness

Rangers reliever Tanner Scheppers was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday, the day after failing to retire the three batters he faced while blowing a three-run lead against the Giants.

Scheppers has inflammation in his left knee, an issue he first felt last week.

Rangers manager Jeff Banister said Scheppers tried to grind through it but a slight dip in his velocity Saturday was a sign the issue was more severe.

“I thought it was just soreness but it’s gone in another direction,” Scheppers said. “That’s where we’re at right now.”

Scheppers is 4-1 with a 5.66 ERA in 38 appearances. It’s his second stint on the DL. He opened the season with a right ankle sprain and was also optioned to Triple A Round Rock from April 27 to May 16.

Phil Klein was called back up from Round Rock after being optioned on Wednesday after pitching five innings of relief in two games against the Yankees on July 27-28. It’s his fourth stint with the Rangers.

With Keone Kela being optioned to Double A Frisco on Saturday, the Rangers are now looking for new eighth-inning set-up men.

Banister said he’d look at newly acquired Sam Dyson and Jake Diekman, along with Sam Freeman and Spencer Patton, to help fill that role.

Scheppers has blown three saves, including one that he ultimately earned a win. But he has lacked the stingy stuff he showed in 2013 when he had a 1.88 ERA in 762/3 innings. He has struck out 29 batters in 35 innings this season, but strikeouts weren’t necessarily his key to success in 2013. He had 59, but walked only 24 batters. This season he’s walked 21 in less than half as many innings.

Scheppers’ struggles are more about the combination of pitches, along with the slight dip in velocity, Banister said, rather than a lack of swing-and-miss pitches. “If you don’t have that then you’ve got to be able to use a combination of other pitches to get swing and misses to get your outs,” he said.

Lewis leader

Colby Lewis has quietly entered an elite club. The veteran who turned 36 on Sunday is the fifth pitcher in Rangers history to win at least 10 games in five seasons, joining Charlie Hough and Kenny Rogers (nine times), and Ferguson Jenkins and Bobby Witt (five times).

He goes for his fifth consecutive quality start and 15th overall Monday night in the series opener against the Houston Astros.

Since the second half of 2014, Lewis has been the steadiest hand in the rotation. He’s closing in on the career-high 20 quality starts he had in 2010. He also had 19 in 2011.

“I don’t feel like I’m giving a lot of free passes,” he said. “I think that’s when I’ve got into trouble in the past.”

Only twice has Lewis failed to go at least five innings this season. In those combined 62/3 innings, he allowed 19 earned runs. Without those two duds, Lewis has a 3.29 ERA.

“That’s all I wanted to do from the time things got ironed out in the second half [in 2014] was just kind of continue that throughout this season,” he said. “I know every guy in this clubhouse knows they’re going to have their ups and downs ... you just try to outweigh your bad ones with your good ones.”

Lewis, who will be a free agent after the season, enjoys mentoring young starters on the staff such as Nick Martinez, and previously Chi Chi Gonzalez.

“He’s a pro,” Banister said. “Experience teaches you how to pitch, but on top of that it’s the ability to make the pitch. What Colby has been able to do is execute pitches this year and understand how he executes pitches, and that’s experience, that’s knowing yourself.”

Quotable

“It’s nice, isn’t it? The strike-throwing, the pace, all of it. It was a joy to watch. I had a lot more fun being on his side than being on the other side.” — Banister on watching Cole Hamels pitch on Saturday night

This story was originally published August 2, 2015 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: After rough night, Scheppers put on DL with left knee soreness."