Rangers reaction with a history lesson after an ace takes a beating

Baseball has a way of honoring the past while celebrating the future. It comes in different forms from game to game and season to season, but at some point both forces collide and reinforce your love for the game.

The Rangers’ weekend series with the Pirates offers a few of these odd little twists.

Although very little happened Friday night for Rangers’ fans to love during the Pirates’ 9-1 drubbing at Globe Life Park the weekend still holds promise.

Here’s one to whet your appetite: The last time Friday’s loser Cole Hamels had a shorter outing than 4 2/3 he rebounded in his next start to no-hit the Cubs. He beat Jake Arrieta that day. Hamels is still the last pitcher to beat the former TCU right-hander. So perhaps he’ll rebound Wednesday in Cleveland with something special.

Here are three more storylines with some history to them to follow the rest of the weekend:

1. Banister manages Darvish — The last time Rangers manager Jeff Banister saw Yu Darvish pitch in person in a regular season game he was the Pirates’ bench coach. It was Sept. 9, 2013 at Globe Life Park. Darvish lost 1-0 after allowing one run in the seventh inning on consecutive doubles. Darvish lost to Gerrit Cole, who held the Rangers scoreless on three hits over seven innings. Darvish makes his first start for the Rangers since August 2014 (and first with Banister as the manager) at 6:15 p.m. Saturday. Only a few tickets remained as of late Friday night.

Not only is it Banister’s first time seeing Darvish pitch as his manager but he’s in the dugout opposite the team that “raised” him for 29 years. One of his mentors, Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle, a Rangers’ coach in 2010, said his family made the trip to Texas to see friends, which no doubt includes the Banister family.

“It’s a great opportunity to, I guess, bring closure to another part of this,” Hurdle said. “I spent 41 years in the game and I’ve met a lot of really good baseball people, developed a lot of relationships, developed some friendships, and Jeff Banister would be at the top of that list as far as personally and professionally, building a friendship and relationship with, with the family as well.”

2. Profar’s return — Two weeks after Cole beat Darvish, Jurickson Profar played his last game for the Rangers before shoulder injuries kept him off the field the past two seasons. Profar, who was going to eventually get work at second base with Triple A Round Rock this season, started his first game there on May 17, the day the league announced Rougned Odor’s eight-game suspension. He started six games at second in the minors before getting called up and starting there for the Rangers Friday night. He singled in the fifth inning for his first major league hit since Sept. 26, 2013. That last hit? A pinch-hit, walk-off homer in the ninth to beat the Angels. He’ll help fill the void while Odor serves his suspension, which was reduced to seven games on Thursday.

Profar will likely be sent back down as soon as Odor returns. He understands the situation.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do but whatever it is I’m ready for it,” he said. “I’m very happy how I was doing down there. It’s been a long, long wait. I’ve worked hard and I’m very proud of myself.”

3. Freese it right there — There is something oddly heartfelt about a player being booed for something five years and three jerseys ago. I’m not saying booing opposing players is necessarily a good thing. Generally, I think it’s good for hometown fans to let opposing players hear their disapproval. But in Freese’s case, one of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2011 World Series heroes and therefore one of the all-time disliked opposing players in Rangers history, it is a good sign that Rangers’ fans have kept that wound close. That builds fan camaraderie and unity. You need your villains. It was easy to continue to boo Freese when he was with the Angels in 2014-2015 because it was the Angels. There is already plenty to dislike about them. They’re in the same division, of course, but also their manager loves to turn every game into a workout by coming out of the dugout every two minutes. Hey, Mike, get your exercise on your own time! Anyway, I digress. Now that Freese is wearing a Pirates’ uniform, Friday night’s boos were a reminder of the collective wound that has yet to heal. And for a fan base, that’s a good thing.

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 12:35 AM with the headline "Rangers reaction with a history lesson after an ace takes a beating."