More starts likely for Rangers’ Hamilton after knee passes test
Josh Hamilton couldn’t believe it either. He played nine innings Saturday.
“That’s pretty cool, huh?” he said.
The outfielder, who has been injured almost the entire season, went 1 for 4 in the Texas Rangers’ loss at Minute Maid Park and said on Sunday that his left knee, operated on Sept. 11, responded better than he expected.
You know it’s going to be swollen and you know it’s going to be stiff and hurting after the activities, but this morning waking up the swelling was down and the function and movement part was better.
Josh Hamilton on his left knee
Next up is a likely start Monday to open the season-closing homestand, with Detroit scheduled to throw right-hander Justin Verlander. Hamilton, it appears, will be the Rangers’ first choice against righties the rest of the season in an attempt to get him ready for a possible postseason run.
“I’m sure that the more at-bats we get him, he has a chance to get locked in,” manager Jeff Banister said. “It gives him us an option and an opportunity, but it’s how he feels and what he feels like he can give us during those days.”
The knee still swells and gets stiff after Hamilton goes through baseball activities, but the swelling and stiffness were down Sunday morning. He felt as if his at-bats — he singled and struck out three times — weren’t far off and that he recognized how Houston pitchers attacked him.
He also didn’t encounter any difficulties in left field or on the bases. He’s ready for a more defined role.
“I would like to think so, but like I told Skip, whatever he wants to do,” Hamilton said.
Injury updates
▪ Left-hander Derek Holland didn’t throw Sunday, a day after he was struck in the middle finger on his pitching hand by a line drive from the first batter he faced.
Holland spent the morning getting treatment after wearing a wrap on it after the game and overnight. It still had some stiffness and was sore, but he could flex it. His next start is scheduled for Thursday.
▪ Right-hander Keone Kela is not going to pitch in back-to-back games as the Rangers give his elbow some rest at the end of the longest season of his career. Kela had elbow tightness earlier this month.
▪ Catcher Robinson Chirinos is a go after the pain in his left biceps subsided over the past few days. He would have caught late Saturday had the Rangers tied the game or taken the lead in the ninth inning.
Chirinos, who has missed most of the past two months, might need off-season surgery, though the Rangers’ medical staff has told him that he shouldn’t have a pain relapse the rest of the season.
▪ Center fielder Leonys Martin said that he is ready to be a defensive substitution, a pinch runner and finally a pinch hitter after having surgery to remove the hamate bone in his left hand last month. Drew Stubbs has been the first choice as a defensive sub for Delino DeShields, and Stubbs, Will Venable and Ryan Strausborger have been runner options off the bench.
Eight-Fingers Beltre
As Holland discussed his finger injury with the media, he was asked if he knew who Mordecai Brown was. Moments later, Prince Fielder jokes about Adrian Beltre having to complete a mundane task with only eight healthy fingers between his two hands.
Beltre has also had to attempt other tasks with two injured fingers, such as hitting major league pitching. His left thumb was badly sprained May 31, and his left index finger was jammed on the last homestand.
Yet, entering Sunday, Beltre was second in the majors this month in RBIs and had raised his average to .280 from .244 on July 8 by batting .315 in his past 70 games.
As expected, he said that this fingers are “good enough” even though surgery is an off-season option for the thumb.
“One is more [trouble]defensively and one is more offensively,” Beltre said. “But they’re OK. I’m just swinging the bat. I try not to let it be an excuse. The thumb might not be 100 percent, but it’s not a reason for me not to produce.”
The rally at the plate, though, won’t define for him if he has had a good season.
“I’ll have a good season when we win the division and get in the playoffs,” Beltre said. “That’s a good season.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2015 at 3:31 PM with the headline "More starts likely for Rangers’ Hamilton after knee passes test."