The Rangers lost to the visiting Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2, on Thursday night in Surprise. Texas relievers combined for 6.2 scoreless innings in the contest. Shawn Tolleson made his first A game appearance of the spring and tossed a scoreless 6th inning. Andrew Faulkner worked a spring-high 2.0 innings, retiring 6 of 8 batters faced. In the 9th, Tony Barnette worked a 1-2-3 inning and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Barnette has now fanned 10 of 24 batters faced this spring. Chad Bell, a left-hander from minor league camp, induced an inning-ending double play in the 3rd inning and totaled 2.2 innings of scoreless relief work. Texas was held scoreless until Alex Burg’s 2-run double in the 6th inning. Joey Gallo reached safely in both of his plate appearances as a reserve. Gallo has reached via hit or walk in 10 of 11 games this spring and is batting .583 (7-12) with 2 walks and a hit-by-pitch over his last 6 games.
The Rangers will play a pair of split squad games on Friday, including the 4th annual H-E-B Big League Weekend in San Antonio.
In Arizona, the Rangers travel to Peoria and play the Mariners on Friday afternoon at 3:10 CDT. LHP Victor Payano (first A game) starts for Texas opposite Seattle’s RHP Nathan Karns (0-1, 4.00). There is no broadcast available for the game in Peoria.
Texas will open Big League Weekend with the Royals in a 7:00 CDT first pitch at the Alamodome. LHP Derek Holland (2-1, 1.04) starts for Texas, while RHP Dillon Gee (1-0, 1.80) starts for the Royals. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Southwest Plus, with Ryan Lefebvre and Tom Grieve in the booth. Eric Nadel and Dave Raymond will call the action on 105.3 The Fan.
