Rangers to rest Kela with sore right elbow

ANAHEIM -- The Rangers sent rookie reliever Keone Kela back to Arlington with right elbow soreness on Thursday, but tests performed on Friday revealed no structural damage and the team believed the issue to be minor.

"We're probably going to shut him down for a couple of days," manager Jeff Banister said Friday. "We'll let it calm down. It's more out of being conservative and precautionary with one of our young pitchers, is the reason why we sent him back to have looked at. We wanted to make sure we had this one right."

Kela was sore after pitching an inning during the Rangers' series finale against the Padres on Wednesday. He initially traveled with the team to Anaheim.

The 22-year-old has appeared in 60 games for Texas this season, with a 2.67 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 54 innings.

Banister said the team would likely shut down Kela at least through the weekend.

"We feel like the number of arms we have out there, we're very capable of covering the innings that Keone would throw," Banister said.