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Rangers Keep Rounding Firsts

ARLINGTON _ Elvis Andrus hit his first home run, though he had be informed it went out somewhere around his flight pattern around second base. He sailed a throw beyond Chris Davis for his first error. And, thanks to the homer and his first two RBIs, he gladly collected his first post-game shaving cream pie. “Good, good, good. Feels good,” he said after a nice face scrubbing.

And the Rangers, with Vicente Padilla nearly making it through six innings in an 8-5 win, have a chance on Thursday afternoon to open the season with a series sweep of the Cleveland Indians. That never happened at home last season though they went into a three-game series finale with that opportunity three times. (The only time that they did it all year was in Kansas City in August.)

More on Andrus and Padilla beyond the jump.

It’s a contract year for Padilla, and he looked like one motivated employee early on. Only 15 pitches to get through a scoreless first. Seventeen in a 1-2-3 second. Fourteen in a 1-2-3 third. Then came the almost inevitable struggles, hitting a batter with the bases loaded (though it wasn’t a vintage Padilla plunking). He nearly survived the sixth but was pulled after Ben Francisco’s two-out, two-run homer cut the Rangers’ lead to 6-3.

Padilla, through Spanish announcer Eleno Ornelas, called his outing so-so and indicated a Rangers hitting attack that provided an early four-run cushion deserved better from him.

In the fourth, Padilla rope-a-doped through 35 pitches. Manager Ron Washington, who has seen this before, said he has no issues with Padilla shifting into a lower gear. First-year pitching coach Mike Maddux, watching it for the first time in real time, was on the same page as his manager.

Washington: “That’s what Padilla does. If he has to slow it down to keep his thoughts together and throw the ball over the plate to get outs, I have no problem with that.”

Maddux: “Whether it’s mentally or physically, you’ve got to control the pace of the game. That’s what we do.

“It was a grinder. The fourth inning really kind of put him behind the eight ball. But he went out there and had a clean fifth [no hits and 13 pitches to four batters, the inning extended by a Michael Young throwing error]. He was working on a clean sixth. He had the leadoff walk in the sixth and battled on through it. I thought he went with what he had. He kind of realized what his strengths were as the game went on. Without his multiple-pitch good stuff, he still had a good fastball and attacked with his fastball very well.”

Andrus went 2-for-4 following up his 1-for-4 major league debut on Monday. He opened at the plate in the second inning with a swinging punt to first base that Ryan Garko fielded about 20 feet from the bag, and Andrus was able to beat it out to score Davis from third. In the sixth, he hit a 92 mph fastball from Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt (speaking of deliberate workers) to right center and into the home bullpen.

“I just hit it hard and started running,” said Andrus, who homered four times last season for Frisco. “Then I see the umpire … I passed second base like it was a triple. ‘I’ve got a triple easy.’ Then I see it’s gone.”

In the top of the seventh, Andrus let his throw sail on a play that would have ended the inning. Instead, it scored Grady Sizemore from third to pull the Indians within 7-4.

“I’m supposed to throw that ball hard,” he said. “Sometimes you change the mechanics of how you throw; that’s what happened. You learn something new every day. I know I’ve got to work a little bit more on that consistency.”

Washington on Andrus’ surprising power: “He’s going to have his days. He’s going to hit a home run here and there.” And on his solid start overall: “The success started in spring training. He realized he can play up here. As long as you keep it simple. The ball come to you; you catch it. You see a pitch you like; get on it. No more than that.

“We’ve got nine guys in that lineup that can get you, and he’s one of them.”