Vogelsong Solid, Giants Tie Rangers In Cactus League
SURPRISE, Ariz. (CBS / AP) -- Ryan Vogelsong tinkered with his mechanics and it seemed to throw him out of whack, so the San Francisco Giants right-hander reverted to his longstanding delivery.
Vogelsong, who was roughed up in his previous outing, gave up one run on four hits over five innings as the Giants and Texas Rangers played to a 4-4 tie Thursday night.
"I think I'm going to go back to my old delivery and just try to make that better, instead of trying to do what I was doing before," Vogelsong said. "It was throwing me off a little bit. We're just going to try to make the old one better.
"It wasn't a major overhaul. I was just trying to get more shoulder tilt to try to get more top-to-bottom action on the ball. The shoulder tilt was throwing my timing off a little bit. I threw a bullpen the old way, the other day and it felt pretty good."
Vogelsong yielded seven runs on six hits and a walk in 2 1-3 innings in his previous start against Seattle.
"After last year, I just felt like there were some things that I needed to improve on," he said. "I was just thinking about why I was making bad pitches last year and the ball was flat and what was the problem."
Shin-Soo Choo, who entered the game 3 for 19 with one extra-base hit, homered off Vogelsong in the third. Kevin Kouzmanoff stroked a two-run single in the eighth to tie the score.
Andrew Susac homered to lead off the Giants fourth and drove in another run with an infield single in the fifth.
STARTING TIME
Rangers: Martin Perez threw 14 strikes in 17 pitches in the first inning, including a first-pitch strike to the first four batters.
Giants: Vogelsong induced double play grounders in the first and fifth innings.
"Getting more ground balls is something that I need to do," Vogelsong said. "It's a good sign that I had a pretty good two-seamer tonight. It's a good outing. It's a good building block."
GIANTS WIN REVIEW; RANGERS DON'T
The Giants won a replay appeal and had a call reversed. In the second inning, Juan Perez grounded into what was inning-ending double play. Giants manager Bruce Bochy, however, thought Perez beat the relay throw to first base and appealed. After a 90-second review, replay official Adam Hamari overturned the ruling on the field.
"I knew I was safe," Perez said.
Since the Rangers had left the field, Martin Perez was allowed more warmup pitches before retiring Brandon Hicks on a grounder.
In the third, Rangers manager Ron Washington appealed when Elvis Andrus was called out in a close play at first. After an 82-second review, the replay official sided with the umpires.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: Outfielder Angel Pagan is anticipated to miss a couple of games with a stiff lower back. Outfielder Michael Morse could be out four or five days with a nagging right calf strain.
Rangers: Third baseman Adrian Beltre left after two at-bats with tightness in his left quad. Second baseman Jurickson Profar had four wisdom teeth removed Thursday and is expected to be out three to five days. Right fielder Alex Rios, who had missed eight games with a right intercostal strain, played for the first time since March 4.
SOTO DEBUTS
Rangers catcher Geovany Soto, who had left ankle surgery on Feb. 22 to remove a small bone spur, played for the first time.
ROSTER MOVES
Left-hander Mike Kickham, who was 0-3 with a 10.16 ERA in 12 games, including three starts, was optioned to Triple-A Fresno by the Giants.
They also optioned left-hander Jose DePaula, infielder Adam Duvall and outfielder Gary Brown to Fresno, and right-handers Kendry Flores and Hunter Strickland to Single-A San Jose. Right-handers Jason Berken, Mason Tobin and Mitch Lively, infielder Chris Dominguez and Susac were assigned to minor league camp.
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