Martin Perez has grown up exponentially this year and has proven he is worthy of being a big part of the Texas Rangers' pitching plans moving forward.
If the Rangers can make up one game on the Cleveland Indians over the next three days, he'll have a shot to live in Rangers lore forever.
It was announced Wednesday — unsurprisingly — that if the Rangers have to play a tiebreaker game to get into the AL Wild Card Game, that Perez would get the start as the game is scheduled for Monday, if necessary, and it would fall in line with Perez's natural rotation spot.
The game would most likely come against Cleveland, who leads the Rangers by one game in the Wild Card standings and are a game back of Tampa Bay, which currently holds the top Wild Card spot. The Rangers would have to make up two games on the Rays in the next three days to pull into a tie with them. Both Cleveland and Tampa Bay are red-hot right now, as are the Rangers.
Perez picked up his 10th win of the season on Wednesday when the Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the Astros and the 22-year-old lefty would be ready to roll if needed on Monday.
"If we have to play this through and it's his turn on Monday, then yes," manager Ron Washington told reporters on Wednesday. "It would be another challenging experience for him to get. He deserves it."
