Texas Rangers right-hander Omar Beltre is scheduled to make his long-delayed major league debut against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.The Rangers announced Monday that Beltre will be added to the 25-man roster before the second game of the three-game series matching the AL West's top two teams.
Colby Lewis (7-5, 3.28 ERA) will be pushed back until Friday's home game against the Chicago White Sox to get extra rest.
"Beltre has been throwing well for (Triple-A) Oklahoma City, and we wanted to give him an opportunity when he's going good," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Colby has been big for us and we want to keep him strong the whole year. Giving him a little extra rest now should pay off down the road."
Beltre and reliever Alexi Ogando were unable to get into the United States from the Dominican Republic for five years because of visa problems before finally getting to spring training with the Rangers in February.
Before the visa problems, the 29-year-old Beltre was considered one of the Rangers' top prospects.
Beltre was 0-2 with a 1.25 ERA in five starts this season for Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he allowed only three earned runs in 21 2-3 innings as a starter with 24 strikeouts and seven walks. He was 0-5 overall with two saves and a 2.39 ERA in 15 appearances.
Ogando made his major league debut with a win in relief for Texas at Florida on June 15, and went on to become the first pitcher to win in each of his first three relief appearances since Detroit's Jon Warden in 1968.
Ogando has made four scoreless appearances (7 1-3 innings) during which opposing teams have hit only .083 (2 for 24) against the right-hander.The rest of the rotation for the Angels series is unchanged. Scott Feldman (5-6, 5.32) will still start the opener Tuesday and left-hander C.J. Wilson (6-3, 3.35) pitches the series finale Thursday.
After Lewis starts the opener against the White Sox, Tommy Hunter (4-0, 2.15) goes Saturday and Feldman is scheduled for the finale of that weekend series.
1 Random Thoughts:
it's July 1st. Texas is in first place by 4½ games, has a winning record on the road, and has the same W-L record as the Yankees.
i'd say it's been a successful season so far.
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