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Young Hunter’s Arm Speaks Volumes, But Texas Rangers Bats Are Silent In 2-0 Loss To Padres

ARLINGTON - Pre-game trepidation over 22-year-old Tommy Hunter taking the mound against San Diego at Rangers Ballpark on Sunday night? Misplaced. Pre-game confidence that the Rangers’ lineup would work over Padres starter Chad Gaudin? Misplaced.

Hunter showed excellent command and poise, limited San Diego to two runs over 6.1 innings and didn’t walk a batter. But Rangers hitters experienced their worst night ever amid the current four walls in Arlington. They were one-hit by Chad Gaudin over eight innings before closer Heath Bell’s hitless ninth. The Padres won a series for the first time since late May with the 2-0 victory before exactly 27,000 and some chaperoned dogs in the left-field corner.

Faster than you can say, “Hello, Halos” with the Angels coming in for three, the Rangers are as close to third-place Seattle as they are to first-place LAA – 1.5 games from each.

Hunter’s start seemed to merit a return engagement, though the plan was to simply return him to Triple -A Oklahoma since he was simply filling in for the DL’ed Matt Harrison. The burly right-hander moved the ball around the strike zone, displayed a cutter that he has been working on since appearing in Arlington in late May and fielded his position like a veteran. Broke for first base to make a third-inning putout; backed up third in the fifth and made a nimble save on an overthrow to save a run.

The latest the Rangers could use the fifth starter is July 7 in Anaheim. But they could also keep the other starters on turn and use a fifth either next Saturday or Sunday against Tampa Bay and push Scott Feldman into the Anaheim series.

Manager Ron Washington said he would have to talk to pitching coach Mike Maddux about keeping Hunter up, and the two indeed met late Sunday night.

Hunter, hardly shy and retiring, didn’t dismiss the possibility himself: “Just wait around, see what happens. Maybe you’ll see me here tomorrow.”

The 99-degree heat didn’t seem to bother Hunter. He threw more than 20 pitches in only one of his 6.1 innings and, as the cliché goes, left it all out there through 94 pitches.

“You just have to go out and give what you’ve got when you’ve got it,” he said. “When you run out, you run out. Can’t conserve anything or you’ll give up home runs, hanging curveballs.”

Scott Hairston pulled a slider down the left-field line for a home run in the fourth inning. In the sixth, Hairston singled home Everth Cabrera, who’d slapped a 3-1 fastball between Chris Davis and the line for a triple. That brought up left-handed power hitter Adrian Gonzalez.

Maddux jogged to the mound and asked Hunter what he wanted to throw.

“A double play ball,” Hunter replied. Which he did, on a first-pitch change-up.

“He kept us in the ballgame,” said catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who caught all three games of the series in the searing heat. “It’s a shame we didn’t get the win for him.”

The last time a Rangers team was one-hit at home, Mike Mussina did it for Baltimore at Arlington Stadium in July 1992 – two weeks after Hunter’s sixth birthday. They were one-hit just last month at Detroit, courtesy of Dontrelle Willis and a parade of four relievers. At Comerica, the hit was a Michael Young double in the first; Sunday, it was a Young single in the first. Texas has been held to two hits or less five times this season and shut out four times.

“He seemed like a different guy than we’ve faced in the past,” David Murphy said of Gaudin, who’d faced the Rangers while with Oakland. “His command was better. He used his slider more … and more effectively.

“He did well, but we could have done a better job. Better at-bats. We’re making easy outs early in the count. We let him have an easy night.”

Gaudin retired his final 13 straight after walking Marlon Byrd with two out in the fourth. His last batter was Ian Kinsler, who went down swinging and then executed the frustration hat trick: chucked the bat, the helmet, the shin guard.

Washington referred to the offense hitting rock bottom.

“I tend to look at things a little differently,” Young said. “I don’t believe in the idea of slumps. Those games are over. We have a brand new opportunity tomorrow to go out and do something. That’s what I think every day.”