Kinsler Helps Rangers Beat A's 6-2

 

Injury and inconsistency have plagued the 30-year-old right-hander during his career, which up until 2013 primarily had been with the Chicago Cubs.

 

Now with the Texas Rangers, he is making a bid for the No. 5 spot in their rotation.

 

On Thursday, he had the team's longest outing of the spring, giving up a run on three hits in five innings of a 6-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

 

Wells struck out four, walked four, hit a batter and gave up a solo home run to Josh Reddick in the fifth inning. 

 

Wells also escaped a pair of jams, leaving the bases loaded in the second and fourth inning -- retiring Scott Sizemore for the final out on both occasions. 

 

Wells' best season came in 2009, when he was 12-10 for the Cubs. He is 28-32 in 86 career starts. In 2012, he was 1-2 in 11 appearances (four starts) in 2012, and had nine starts for Triple-A Iowa.

 

In July, his season came to a close when he had surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow. 

 

Thursday marked his fourth start of the spring. He ERA dipped from 5.63 to 4.15. 

 

"He kept the ball down much better today," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "He got into some trouble, but he was able to get out of it. 

 

"He had a good changeup," Washington said. "He is the first guy to go five innings for us."

 

Wells got some help from the top of his batting order in the early going. 

 

Leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler and No. 2 Elvis Andrus both reached base in the first inning -- on an error and a single -- and scored on sacrifice flies by Lance Berkman and Adrian Beltre. 

 

In the third inning, Kinsler drove in a run with a double and scored on a double by Andrus. 

 

Kinsler, whose leadoff role was the subject of much debate by Rangers fans last season, went from first to third on Andrus' single to left when he caught A's left fielder Yoenis Cespedes off guard. 

 

"Ian saw that (Cespedes) was being too lackadaisical, so he took that extra base," Washington said. "We need to be running the bases, heads-up. You try to take advantage of the things you see."

 

Right-hander Dan Straily, one of the Oakland minor league pitchers of the year in 2012, made his fourth start of the spring and had mixed results.

 

In three innings, he gave up four runs -- two earned -- on three hits, walked one and struck out three. 

 

"He was a little inconsistent," said A's manager Bob Melvin. "He was behind people when he normally isn't, but he did throw some quality pitches."