ARLINGTON, Texas — With back-to-back poor outings,
it's no longer a question that Rangers lefty Derek Holland remains an
unfinished product.
Holland followed a rough outing on Monday against the Yankees by giving up nine
hits and all five runs on Sunday in a 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay.
"He's still in the process," Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
The Rangers were hoping that Holland (2-2) had arrived as a major leaguer after
a strong finish to last season and impressive performances in his first three
outings this season.
Then came Monday — a 7-4 loss to the Yankees in which Holland allowed nine hits
and four walks.
On Sunday against the Rays, Holland walked just two batters but had trouble
spotting his pitches. Tampa Bay's lineup hammered the mistakes for nine hits,
five of them for extra bases.
"I caught too much plate," Holland said. "Location was the big
thing that kind of hurt me . . . I wouldn't say it was just the fastball, it
was all my pitches."
Against the Rays, Holland got off to a strong start with a 1-2-3 first inning
that including two strikeouts. But when handed a 1-0 lead in the second inning,
he looked very hittable.
The second inning began with a Ben Zobrist triple to deep right, followed by a
single and back-to-back doubles.
By the time the second inning ended, seven Rays had come to the plate and Tampa
Bay held a 3-1 lead.
"You know in that second inning there he just misplaced some
fastballs, but after that I thought he got a grip on that," Washington
said. "He had great secondary stuff. That second inning, that's what got
to him — he got some fastballs up and they didn't miss them."
Holland gave up another run in the third inning after a leadoff walk to Carlos
Pena and a double by Zobrist.
Then he settled down again in the fourth by striking out the side. Holland also
faced the minimum in the fifth and sixth innings, with some help from a caught
stealing and a double play.
Things got rocky again in the seventh when Desmond Jennings tripled in another
run. Holland finished the inning with his eighth strikeout but was done for the
night. He left with a 5-2 deficit.
Holland said he felt he was on the same page with catcher Yorvit Torrealba, he
just couldn't execute the pitches as finely as he wanted.
"It's not like I'm out there trying to walk people or throwing around
people," said Holland, who recorded quality starts in his first three
outings this season. "I'm throwing strikes and going after them. So I'm
not really going to change anything. The main thing is to continue
grinding."
A good sign for the Rangers is that Sunday's struggles were different from
Monday's. Walks got Holland in trouble against the Yankees, when he managed
just one strikeout in six innings. Holland was finding the strike zone against
the Rays, as evidenced by the eight strikeouts and just a pair of walks.
In other words, Holland wasn't making the same mistakes two games in a row,
"Totally different," Washington said of the two outings. "It
hasn't all come together yet, but it will."
