SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Rangers found out that right-hander Anthony Ranaudo is a quick study on the mound.
Ranaudo was solid after a visit from pitching coach Mike Maddux in the third inning Saturday, taking what Maddux said and applying it to end the inning and work a seven-pitch fourth inning.
The problem for Ranaudo against the Los Angeles Dodgers was that he was inconsistent with his pitches early as the Dodgers scored four times off him in his four innings of work in an 11-3 victory over Texas at the Alamodome.
Ranaudo, who is competing for the No. 5 starting spot, was making his first 'A' game start since leaving a March 12 appearance after two innings because of discomfort in his right arm. Saturday was his longest outing of the spring, as he allowed six hits, walked two, struck out two and was tagged for three homers.
Most of his mistakes came in pitcher's counts.
"I thought Ranaudo was inconsistent within the strike zone," pitching coach Mike Maddux said. "His process of two-strike pitches was where he'd rather have a couple of pitches back. Although they're hitting fly balls to right (275 feet) that go out of the ballpark it's still maybe not the pitches you want to throw in those situations. It's the learning curve we have between these guys are new to us and we're new to them."
Maddux said the club sent Ranaudo out for the fourth inning to see how he responded to a three-run third that included homers from Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzalez. He answered with his best inning of the game.
"I do look at the results of the pitches and some of those results weren't my best pitches," said Ranaudo, whose spring ERA is now 6.48. "I'd like to execute a little bit better. Granted maybe one or two of them may have been an out but still there's a lot of pitches I didn't want to throw there or execute."
Ranaudo wasn't the only starting candidate to struggle Saturday. Lisalverto Bonilla allowed six runs in his four innings but struck out seven. Maddux thought that Bonilla pitched well at times.
"Bonilla was fine today," he said. "When he made good pitches he got swing miss or weak contact. Every hit he gave up was a mistake. The balls they hit hard those are the ones they practice. The pitches that he executed he was better than they were."
MORE FROM FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST:
- Ranking NFL quarterback salaries
- 21 Fun Facts about the NCAA tournament
- Highest paid player of each NBA team
- College football's highest paid coaches in 2014
- Highest paid player on every MLB roster
