ARLINGTON -- Catcher Bryan Holaday showed off his arm in his Rangers debut, throwing out two would-be basestealers to help starter Colby Lewis get through some difficult middle innings in Texas' 9-5 loss to the Mariners on Wednesday.
Both of Holaday's throws went to second base, where shortstop Hanser Alberto was waiting to make the tag on Luis Sardinas in the fourth inning and Leonys Martin in the fifth. Holaday's arm helped Lewis immensely, as the pitcher had allowed three runs on a pair of homers and put 10 runners on base through the first five frames.
"Colby did a good job of mixing up the looks and holding and giving me a good chance," Holaday said.
Wednesday marked the second time Holaday has thrown out multiple attempted basestealers; he also did it in 2014 as a member of the Tigers.
The Rangers caught runners stealing on 23 percent of their attempts last season, while Holaday has a career caught-stealing percentage of 26 percent.
Lewis said he was pleased with the way he and Holaday worked together, having also had the opportunity to do so last Friday in an exhibition game.
"I felt like we did really, really good," Lewis said. "There was only one time when he threw down a sign and kind of stepped off just because he made another gesture after the sign that I wasn't used to. He came right out and told me what to do. … There was never really a time that we were off-page or not in sync."