ARLINGTON -- There was nothing wrong with the unusual pitching arrangement deployed by the Rangers on Monday night. They just couldn't muster enough offensive support to make it a complete success.
The Angels ended a scoreless tie with three runs in the seventh inning and went on to a 3-1 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Park. The Rangers have lost eight of their last 12 after mustering just six hits against Angels starter Matthew Shoemaker and five relievers.
Despite the loss, Rangers manager Jeff Banister was quite pleased with how rookie left-hander Jeffrey Springs and right-hander Ariel Jurado handled their reverse roles. Springs, normally a reliever, opened the game with two scoreless innings and Jurado, in his first relief appearance after seven starts, followed with four of his own.
"Obviously, you look at the six zeros, and you look at how those two kids threw extremely well," Banister said. "You go into that game and you look at those two pitchers and you look up and you say, 'Well, if you could have scripted out and put six zeros on the board to get you to the seventh, that's about as best as you can ask for."

The only way it could have gone better was if Jurado had stayed out there and kept throwing zeros. Banister felt it was time to go to the bullpen.
"There's a number of decisions in that game that I look at," Banister said. "That's one of them, sending him back out there. However, if we got six zeros, it was a situation where it felt like we could turn it over to some of those guys that are a little better equipped to pitch the seventh, eighth and ninth. I can second guess myself, but I look at two young guys that really threw the ball extremely well."
Springs was a starter at Appalachian State and made 26 starts in the Minor Leagues, so it wasn't a completely unfamiliar situation for him.
"Not really 'cause I did everything the same," Springs said. "I went out and threw with the relievers and ran and did everything the exact same. I even went down there a little bit early before the game and just kind of sat in the bullpen, and then got up and got right on the mound just like I normally would. So, nah, it wasn't too much different."

Springs has pitched well in any role since being called up from Triple-A Round Rock on July 31. In 11 games, he has a 2.29 ERA, a 1.37 WHIP and averages 9.61 strikeouts per nine innings.
"I think it went pretty well overall," Springs said. "Executed some pitches in the first inning, felt pretty good, kind of got out of sync a little bit in the second but was able to bring it back and was just happy to put up two zeros, so was pretty happy overall."

Jurado, 2-4 with a 6.69 ERA in seven starts, then took over in the third and cruised through four innings He allowed two hits and a walk with one strikeout while throwing 54 pitches.
"I didn't notice that I was going to start late, because I prepared myself the same," Jurado said. "I was just waiting for the third inning, when he told me I was going to start pitching, so I was ready for it. I felt comfortable. Every week when I'm going to start a game -- I knew this one was going to be different, but I prepared myself the same. What I want to do is do the best, and it happened tonight. "
The Rangers will go back to the conventional method on Tuesday with Mike Minor starting. But Banister made it clear this won't be the last time the Rangers go with a reliever to start the game and follow up with a starter.

"I like the look of it," Banister said. "Loved the idea of it, when you look at Springs going through the lineup getting down to the ninth hitter. Jurado comes in and faces the ninth. Other than going 1-2-3 in both innings, I don't know if you can ask for a better scenario. I love the look of it because it gave Jurado an opportunity to manage through the lineup, essentially, one-plus times."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Joey Gallo drove in the Rangers' only run with a double in the seventh, a line drive down the right-field line that had an exit velocity of 113.3 miles per hour. But Angels reliever Justin Anderson struck out Ronald Guzman with the bases loaded to end the threat.

SOUND SMART
This is the sixth time in Rangers history that their starting pitcher left the game after two scoreless innings. Luis Mendoza did on Sept 8, 2007 in his Major League debut, Kason Gabbard (April 21, 2008) and Kevin Millwood (July 26, 2009) came out because of injuries and Alexi Ogando and C.J. Wilson both pitched two scoreless in their final starts of the 2011 season after the Rangers had clinched and were preparing for the postseason.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Delino DeShields, in his first start in center since returning from the disabled list, raced into the left-center gap to make a great running catch on Kole Calhoun's long drive. DeShields went 98 feet in 5.1 seconds, and got up to a 29.1 ft/sec sprint speed for what Statcast™ called a four-star catch.

HE SAID IT
"Gallo hit a missile. Luckily for us, that ball fell about three, four feet from going out, hit the wall." -- Angels manager Mike Scioscia, on Gallo's drive in the seventh that almost tied the game
UP NEXT
Minor (10-7, 4.33 ERA) will start in the second game of the series against the Angels at 7:05 p.m. CT on Tuesday at Globe Life Park. Minor is 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA in his last three starts. He holds a 5.68 ERA in three career games against the Angels, but he hasn't started against them since 2014. Los Angeles will counter with lefty Andrew Heaney (8-8, 4.09).