ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Derek Holland has made just four starts since coming off the disabled list, but the Texas Rangers have had him throw 229 pitches in his last two outings. And he insists his shoulder feels just fine.
The Rangers left-hander allowed three hits over eight innings on Saturday night in a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels, which was decided on Rougned Odor's tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth.
"Everything feels good," said Holland, who was sidelined most of the season with a shoulder strain after getting injured in his season debut on April 10 against Houston.
"They asked me right after I came back off the DL if I was ready to go. And when you say you're ready to go, it means you're ready to go full steam."
Holland (3-1) struck out five and walked two in his duel with Jered Weaver. He yielded just one hit through his last 6 1-3 innings in his fifth start of the season, six days after throwing a three-hit shutout against Baltimore and striking out 11 on 116 pitches.
One-out singles by Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus against Joe Smith (4-5) put runners at the corners and Odor followed with his scoring fly ball to left-center. Shawn Tolleson pitched a perfect ninth for his 29th save in 31 attempts.
"We felt good about sending Derek back out there for the eighth, considering where he was in the lineup," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "We knew that he had a little bit left in the tank, which we saw from the outing before. And with the extra day's rest, we felt like he was our guy."
Weaver, who entered 10-0 with a 2.30 ERA in 16 career starts at home against the Rangers, allowed a run and four hits in six innings and escaped bases-loaded jams in the first and fourth.
Angels first baseman Albert Pujols started as the designated hitter for the fourth time in seven games because of lingering discomfort in his right foot, and it appears the 15-year veteran and two-time Gold Glove winner will remain in the DH role the rest of the season. Two years ago, he sat out the final two months due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
C.J. Cron, who drove in all of the Angels' runs in Friday's series-opening 5-3 victory, plated Mike Trout with a dribbler to the right of the mound after Trout tripled off the wall in right-center.
Trout, the reigning AL MVP, has gone a career-worst 27 consecutive games without a home run since his solo shot against Baltimore's Kevin Gausman on Aug. 7 at the "Big A." He has a 33 this season, three shy of last year's career-best total.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: The bullpen is hurting, with RHP Keone Kela on the shelf due to soreness in his elbow and RHP Ross Ohlendorf experiencing soreness in the back of his shoulder.
Angels: RHP Matt Shoemaker, who allowed one run over 14 1-3 innings in two victorious starts following a brief detour to Triple-A, will not make his next scheduled start on Monday night against the Dodgers because of a forearm strain. Nick Tropeano will replace him.
UP NEXT:
Rangers: RHP Colby Lewis (14-7) will try for the third time to establish a new career high for wins in the series finale. He already has become the first Texas pitcher to go from 14-plus losses one season to 14-plus wins the next since Jose Guzman (1986-87).
Angels: LHP Hector Santiago (7-9) is 2-0 with a 1.84 ERA in four starts against the Rangers this season, and held them to three hits over seven innings in a 13-0 win on July 4 at Texas. But he is 0-5 with a 6.46 ERA in his last eight starts overall. Last Monday at Oakland, he gave up five runs over 2 2-3 innings in the shortest of his 26 starts this year.
