ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers are going to go with a six-man bullpen for now because of the back spasms that forced Shin-Soo Choo out of the starting lineup for a second-straight game.
Texas recalled outfielder Michael Choice from Round Rock and optioned left-hander Alex Claudio to Triple A.
Choice has been in town since Tuesday but wasn't promoted until Wednesday after Choo missed another start. Infielder Adam Rosales has also been sick so the Rangers opted to add a bat on the bench, at least for now.
Choice was hitting .242 on the season with seven homers and 33 RBI. But over the last 11 games he's batting .400 with two homers and 10 RBI. He had six RBI in his last game for Round Rock Monday.
"It's been more of mental thing that physical thing," Choice said of his recent surge. "More confidence and more mentality going into the at-bats. Just gaining confidence back and believing in what I was doing."
Texas manager Jeff Banister said Choo is improving. The back spasms flared up on the off day Monday.
Banister isn't too concerned about going with a short bullpen for now.
"More than anything it's a day-to-day process," he said. "We felt like given where we were at today with Choo, given that Rosales is a little bit under the weather, and just being that it's June 24th that even though we've had a day off those position players have really towed a load for a while. We wanted to be able to protect them as much as we could."
