Cotts gets confidence boost

SEATTLE -- Rangers manager Ron Washington didn't hesitate to use left-handed setup reliever Neal Cotts with a one-run lead in the eighth inning on Saturday night. It was the same situation Cotts was called upon on Friday night when he allowed four runs without retiring a hitter.

On Saturday, Cotts struck out two hitters before Alexi Ogando finished the inning and Joakim Soria took over in the ninth.

"It was the perfect situation to get back out there with the hitters [Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley] they had coming up and he got rid of them," Washington said. "That was good. It made him feel good about himself. We feel good about him, that's why we put him back out there."

Cotts said it was about having better command and a tighter, sharper breaking ball.

"I definitely wanted to get back out there," Cotts said. "I didn't know when it would happen but I'm glad I got back out there. It was miserable the day before. It was a good bounce back."