Ross Takes Over For Latest Injury

The Texas Rangers' rotten string of bad luck continued on Sunday when, despite a nice, clean win, they lost yet another starting pitcher to an injury as Alexi Ogando went down with a groin injury after being called upon to start for the absent Derek Holland, who joined Neftali Feliz last week on the disabled list.

Ogando, who was an all-star last year as a starting pitcher before moving back to the bullpen this season, was set to throw, at most, 60 pitches on Sunday in San Francisco and was through three innings in 39 pitches in perfect fashion — not one baserunner. That's when determination got in the way.

Ogando was laying down a sacrifice bunt with runners on first and second and the Giants misplayed the bunt, which had Ogando chugging for first base and making it safely, injuring his groin in the process.

"Right now it feels pretty bad," Ogando, who is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday, told reporters. "I feel bad because of the situation we're in, but that's something that happens in baseball."

Of course, that put the Rangers in a bind, as they were hoping to get five innings out of Ogando but only got three. That's when Robbie Ross entered and proceeded to go four innings and allow just one hit, improving to 6-0 on the season. The rookie lefty, the only lefty the Rangers have in their bullpen, sure did look the part of a spot starter, moreso than Scott Feldman has lately.

But Ron Washington didn't see it that way, presumably because of the lack of southpaws in the Rangers' bullpen, or maybe just because he doesn't quite trust the 22-year-old with a 1.30 ERA to take on such a role. Whatever the case is, it doesn't seem like Ross will be stepping in to spell things before Roy Oswalt is set to arrive in Arlington for a June 22 start against the Colorado Rockies.

"He's not pitching his way into the rotation, that's nothing we thought about," Washington said during the postgame show on 103.3 FM. "He certainly did what we needed him to do today and he was capable of doing just that, and he did. Robbie's been good for us all year."

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