SEATTLE (AP) - Texas manager Ron Washington is tired of talking about all of the Rangers’ injuries.
The latest is to third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday with a herniated disk in his lower back. Fortunately for the Rangers, Adrian Beltre was ready to return from his quadriceps injury and was activated from the DL before Texas played the Seattle Mariners.
And the lingering question remains outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who tested out his sore heel for the first time since getting injured earlier in the week.
“It’s a situation you just can’t do anything about. Everyone around here knows that they’re trusted and you just keep going,” Washington said. “That’s all you can do. They’re not going to stop our schedule. You’ve just got to keep going. At some point this testing that is happening to us will stop and we’ll get healthy and we can go. But until then we’ve got to keep going with what we’ve got.”
Kouzmanoff left Tuesday’s game in Oakland with back tightness. He had been outstanding in place of Beltre, hitting .362 with two homers, six doubles and 10 RBIs in 13 games since his contract was purchased from Triple-A Round Rock.
Kouzmanoff was the American League player of the week April 14-20. Now there’s uncertainty about when he might be able to return after he was examined by a back specialist in Texas earlier Friday.
Beltre was placed on the disabled list April 13, retroactive to April 9, with a strained left quad. He was hitting .286 with four RBIs in eight games before getting injured. He was looking forward to getting back in time to face buddy Felix Hernandez on Saturday night. Beltre has learned how to manage issues with his hamstrings in the past and said he likely wouldn’t push himself the first week back from the quad injury.
Choo and the Rangers believe he’ll be able to avoid the disabled list. Choo got hurt Monday night in Oakland when he landed awkwardly while extending his leg to beat out an infield single. He hit in the indoor cage and did some running on the field Friday. Choo said there were no problems when he hit, but said he continued to feel pain in the heel when he ran.
Still, Choo believes the progress he’s made from when the injury first happened should keep him from needing to be out for 15 days. Washington said if Choo felt OK on Saturday he would go through batting practice on the field.
“I don’t want to go on the DL and I’m positive before 15 days I’ll feel better,” Choo said.
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