ARLINGTON, Texas - A healthy Derek Holland probably wouldn't have made a difference in what's been a miserable 2014 season for the Texas Rangers.
But his three starts since coming back from microfracture knee surgery have certainly been fun to watch.
Holland was once again outstanding Friday, putting together his third consecutive seven-inning start in a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
While the season could be historically bad for the Rangers, who are eight losses away from 100, Holland's three outings have been historically good.
Friday's start put Holland in the team's record book alongside Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins as the only starters in franchise history to put together three consecutive starts of at least seven innings with no walks.
He also displayed the blueprint for the rest of the staff as to how to get out of troubling jams.
He allowed just one run on eight singles against the Braves and that run probably could have been cut down at the plate by Ryan Rua in the third inning. Holland was able to minimize damage in that four-hit inning that also included a botched run down but just one run. He also escaped a fifth inning in which he gave up back-to-back singles to open the frame by following that up with a strikeout and a double-play ball.
The ability to minimize damage is what separates Holland from most of the other pitchers on a young Texas staff.
"My whole goal was to take care of business as much as I possibly could and if it's going to cost me a run it's going to cost me a run," said Holland, whose ERA is now 0.86. "I didn't want any of those guys to score. I did everything I possibly could. My defense made the plays for me when they needed to and I got out of it."
While Holland didn't figure in the decision, he kept the Rangers in the game long enough for the offense to scratch out enough runs for a rare win. Texas snapped a three-game slide by putting together three consecutive two-out singles in the bottom of the eighth inning. Robinson Chirinos had the big one, with his sinking single to center scoring Adrian Beltre and snapping a 1-1 tie.
The Texas bullpen did the rest, with Neftali Feliz converting his sixth-straight save with a perfect ninth.
But it was Holland, who has faced 79 hitters this year without a walk, who set the tone. That was evident when he was in the jams.
"He just got more intensity I think," interim manager Tim Bogar said. "He realized right there that he had to make pitches. He had to get a couple of extra outs in the third inning and then in that fifth inning, he did a great job. That just shows you how Derek goes after things every day."
That kind of tenacity isn't lost on his teammates either. Rookie right-hander Phil Klein struck out two of the three batters he faced in the eighth inning. That included Chris Johnson with the tying run on third and two outs. It also put Klein in line for his first major-league win.
He knows that the pitching staff can feed off a start like the ones Holland has been delivering.
"Derek threw a good game," said Klein, who has allowed just three hits to the 34 right-handed hitters he's faced. "We're all the same in the sense that when guys get on base you kind of bear down a little bit. You've got to make good pitches. He did that and we pieced together the eighth inning doing the same thing."
