Rangers switch out relievers, recalling Bass and Jackson
The ever evolving and revolving Texas Rangers bullpen will have a new face when the club begins a three-game series at Seattle Friday.
Right-hander Luke Jackson, who was the 45th pick in the 2010 draft, has been recalled from Triple-A Round Rock along with right-hander Anthony Bass.
The club optioned left-hander Alex Claudio and right-hander Phil Klein to Round Rock to make room for the duo.
Jackson, who was a primarily a starter in his minor-league career, has worked in 28 games in relief for the Express. He's 2-2 with a 4.05 ERA and has 71 strikeouts in 60 innings of work. Left-handed batters are hitting just .185 against him this year.
"He's been really good out of the pen, especially the last couple of weeks," Texas general manager Jon Daniels said. "He's always had great stuff â now we have an opportunity to take a look and see if this is the role that sparks him."
Jackson has pitched at least one inning in each of his last 10 starts, and he has allowed just two earned runs in his last 8 1/3 innings of work with 13 strikeouts.
Bass was sent to Round Rock July 27 because Texas needed a long man and spent 10 days with the Express. He has a 4.35 ERA in 26 appearances for Texas and will resume his role as the team's long man.
Texas has the highest bullpen ERA in the major leagues at 4.68 and is second in the American League in relief appearances. In the team's three-game sweep of Houston Texas used five pitchers in two of the wins and six in Wednesday's win.
Jackson will be the third new face in the last week for the bullpen as Texas acquired left-hander Jake Diekman and right-hander Sam Dyson in deadline deals last week.
