ARLINGTON -- The Rangers sent reliever Andrew Faulkner to Triple-A Round Rock prior to Saturday's game with Baltimore, though manager Jeff Banister asserted that the lefty "is going to pitch significant innings for us this year."
Right-hander Nick Martinez was recalled from Round Rock.
"This is an opportunity to reset the trap for him," Banister said of Faulkner, "get him back in that rhythm, try to find the rhythm he had last year.
"He seemed to be a little bit out of rhythm. It's a challenge to be young and try to find a rhythm, especially understanding the type of innings he would throw."
Faulkner had pitched 4 1/3 innings in five games, all no-decisions. The 23-year-old allowed four runs on five hits.
Friday was a day to forget.
In 1 1/3 innings of relief in Texas' loss to Baltimore, he gave up three runs on two hits -- both homers -- while allowing an inherited runner to score.
Martinez, who was sent down in Spring Training, will assume a role of long relief and a spot starter. Alex Claudio will move into Faulkner's middle-innings role, Banister said. In two starts at Triple-A, Martinez was 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA.
"Leaving camp, getting sent down wasn't ideal, but I still had a good mindset and confidence in what I was doing," Martinez said. "I took that to the games."
Rotation set
With an off-day Monday, Texas reset its rotation, leaving only Cole Hamels on his regular turn.
The staff ace will make his regular start on Tuesday at home against the Astros, while the other four starters will be pushed back at least a day. Colby Lewis is the exception. He'll get an extra two days' of rest after being flipped in the rotation by Derek Holland. Right-hander A.J. Griffin, the team's No. 5 starter, is being inserted between Hamels and Martin Perez, who will go Thursday.
So the Rangers' rotation looks like this for the next week: Holland on Sunday, Hamels on Tuesday, followed by Griffin, and Perez, Holland and Lewis to start the three-game series against the White Sox in Chicago.
Rangers beat
• Josh Hamilton will return to Arizona for extended spring training games when the Rangers go back out on the road on Friday. He'll start in a DH role before playing in the field. The goal is to get him to playing five innings, then send him out for a rehabilitation assignment in the Minors.
• Perez on Friday night became the first Rangers pitcher -- and second in franchise history -- to open a season winless, despite three consecutive quality starts. The only other pitcher to do it was Dick Donovan (four) in the Washington Senators' inaugural season of 1961.
• "It's a great decision by the club. He's a player that means so much for this club. Age doesn't matter for him. I was really happy for sure to continue to play and learn right next to him. Super happy, really … hopefully we can get him the championship, I think as a player, he's missing and finish his career here in Texas." -- Elvis Andrus on Adrian Beltre's two-year contract extension.