ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers have decided to give starter Neftali Feliz some extra time between starts and he won't start again until the Rangers play in Toronto Tuesday.
Feliz started Saturday in Game 2 of a doubleheader in Detroit and will be available in the bullpen for the next few games, including Wednesday's series finale against New York.
"We're backing Neffy off," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "We'll get him some days here. This is just something we're doing. We either can take the opportunity to do it now or we'll have to do it on the back end."
Washington said the Rangers have a plan in place now for Feliz that they didn't have in place last year when Alexi Ogando was making the transition from reliever to starter.
Feliz pitched a complete game Saturday in Detroit, throwing 119 pitches.
"Nothing is wrong with Neffy," Washington said. "We didn't do that with Ogando. We just gave the ball to Ogando and turned him loose. We're going to turn him (Feliz) loose. If we wouldn't have had to play that doubleheader, we would have to make some adjustments somewhere. Since we played that doubleheader, we wanted Colby and Holland to get back on time."
Feliz (1-1) has no issues with the decision.
"That's fine with me," Feliz said. "I'm just trying to help out the team, help them win; any way they think they can use me or need me."
Feliz said he has no issues physically and feels strong after his first three starts.
"Everything I did in the offseason was to get exactly ready for this," he said. "I knew I would be a starter. They told me ahead of time. I think I'm in the shape I want to be. Of course having the extra day is going to help me. You never know. It's a long season. You never know how hard I'm going to be throwing and how many innings I'm going to work. I think it's going to help me out in the end."
Counting the postseason, Feliz threw 73 2/3 innings last year for the Rangers. He's already thrown 20 this season.
