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SEATTLE -- It seems just about every Rangers player with a bat in his hands has been in a funk lately, and the only reasonable explanation in the clubhouse is ... well, to paraphrase the manager, that's the way baseball goes.

"We haven’t been the best offense, for sure," shortstop Elvis Andrus said. "It’s kind of gotten rough a little bit fighting through it, but that’s the way the season goes. We’re going to have good times and we’re going to have bad times, and right now it’s not the best time for our offense playing well."

Rangers manager Ron Washington plans to sleep in and relax during the Rangers' first scheduled off day since May 3. The last thing on his mind is the offensive struggles this early in the season, considering the same lineup has won back-to-back American League championships.

"We’re in May," Washington said. "We've just got to keep grinding like we always do. I have quality guys out there in that clubhouse and we’ll put it back together."

In the past 10 games, the Rangers offense has been outscored by a run in series against the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.

"We know we can play better baseball than we have right now, but sometimes you’ve got to stay humble," Andrus said.

They were on the cusp of breaking out Wednesday, but they couldn't catch a break in a 5-3 loss to the Mariners.

Nelson Cruz hit two shots to the warning track in right field. Michael Young saw 20 pitches in his first two plate appearances and he didn't have a hit to show for it. Young hit a hard ground ball up over the mound that was kicked by pitcher Kevin Millwood to keep it in the infield in the second. Young had another ground ball dance down the third-base line in the third. It appeared to be a hit until Kyle Seager made a great play to record the out.

Young is batting .233 (19-of-87) with a .322 slugging percentage and eight RBIs in May. He's struck out 16 times and collected just two walks.

"I feel fine," Young said. "Those are the at-bats I want to keep on having. I don’t look at them as grinding. I look at them as a couple good at-bats. If I keep doing that, then things will start going my way."

He doesn't see the team's struggles as a slump. Just as quickly as the bats went cold, the Rangers know all it takes is a few good at-bats to get them going again.

"If we go through a tough stretch and we’re playing .500 ball, sometimes that happens," Young said. "But we know we're capable of going on hot stretches where we get a ton of wins in a row. We just stay focused on the things we know we're capable of."

Even with the woes at the plate, the Rangers are still nine games over .500.

"We're still in first place [of the AL West], and that's all that matters," Andrus said.

SEATTLE -- Scott Feldman hasn't been announced as a permanent replacement for Neftali Feliz in the Rangers' rotation, but he looked like the other two starting pitchers during the three-game series with the Mariners in one way: He allowed walks to turn into runs.

He didn't top Yu Darvish's six-walk performance Monday, but he came close. Feldman's command was shaky in the second and fifth innings in Wednesday's 5-3 loss. His five walks gave the Mariners 13 free trips to first base off the Rangers' starters, including Matt Harrison, this series. It resulted in seven of the Mariners' 12 runs in three days.

Feldman walked the bases loaded to start the second against the Mariners' Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters. Michael Saunders' sacrifice fly would score the only run 0f the inning thanks to a couple of groundouts, but it resulted in an early 1-0 deficit.

Feldman seemed to find a groove, retiring eight straight heading into the fifth, but that inning started with a walk to Saunders. Mike Carp followed with a single, and an error by Ian Kinsler at second base advanced runners to second and third. Feldman intentionally walked Dustin Ackley to load the bases up for Alex Liddi with one out, and Liddi made Feldman pay on the first pitch. The grand slam on an inside fastball barely cleared the left-field wall over the scoreboard, but it was four runs nonetheless.

"Walking that many guys, I was dodging bullets all day, and then finally they got me in the fifth there. It finally caught up to me," Feldman said.

Robbie Ross entered the game, ending Feldman's night after five runs allowed on three hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Feldman hadn't thrown in eight days entering Wednesday's contest, and it was only his eighth appearance this season.

"I’ve been doing as good as I can to try and stay sharp," Feldman said. "The last couple times just haven’t been good."

Rangers manager Ron Washington said he isn't going to hold too much of this start against Feldman when judging him as a possible replacement for Feliz. Washington said Feldman made one bad pitch.

"It’s unfortunate that the one that he made put four runs on him," Washington said. "I thought he was doing a good job.

"There's decisions to be made and we'll make decisions, but you can't put that on Scotty."

Although Washington hasn't made any commitment, Feldman is preparing with the intention of starting Tuesday when what had been Feliz's turn comes up in the rotation.

"My fastball was decent but all the other pitches were lacking the command that I need," Feldman said. "I'm going to work really hard these next few days in between starts and throw a lot of pitches and work on that kind of stuff."

SEATTLE -- Yorvit Torrealba is in at at catcher for the finale of the Rangers' three-game series against at Seattle. Manager Ron Washington is giving catcher Mike Napoli the day off. Torrealba will bat eighth in the lineup. Here's how the rest of the order looks:


Rangers
2B Ian Kinsler
SS Elvis Andrus
CF Josh Hamilton (L)
3B Adrian Beltre
DH Michael Young
LF David Murphy
RF Nelson Cruz
C Yorvit Torrealba
1B Mitch Moreland

Mariners
2B Dustin Ackley (L)
LF Alex Liddi
RF Ichiro Suzuki (L)
3B Kyle Seager (L)
C Jesus Montero
1B Justin Smoak (S)
CF Michael Saunders (L)
DH Mike Carp (L)
SS Brendan Ryan

SEATTLE -- There's a package sitting near the entrance of the Rangers' clubhouse at Safeco Field with catcher Mike Napoli's name written on the outside of the box.

Inside the box are a number of Napoli's bats just waiting to be used at the plate, but he won't see an at-bat in Wednesday's game. He's got the day off with Yorvit Torrealba behind the plate.

Even if he did get a plate apperance, odds are it wouldn't be pretty, given his recent slump. Napoli said he doesn't feel comfortable at the plate recently. He's batting .210 (13-of-62) in May and slugging .290 with a .315 on-base percentage.

"Right now, I get in there and sometimes I feel good, sometimes I don’t," Napoli said. "More times, I don’t."

Rangers manager Ron Washington said it seems as if Napoli is consistently swinging at balls and not strikes. Napoli has at least one strikeout in 32 of 39 games played. He added to his total Tuesday with an 0-for-3, three strikeout performance. The sliver sombrero gives Napoli 49 strikeouts this season, which puts him in a tie for third in the American League with the Toronto Blue Jays' Kelly Johnson and the New York Yankees' Curtis Granderson.

"It takes time," Washington said. "Sometimes you’re in a funk and it just takes time. You just got to keep battling and all of a sudden one pitcher gives you an opportunity to feel good about yourself and then you’re rolling."

The numbers are similar to the season he had last year, when he struggled through May and June before landing on the disabled list with a strained left oblique muscle June 12. He went on to have a monster second half, posting a .386 batting average and slugging .706.

"You can ask any player and there's a part of the year that they struggle, and there's a part of the year that they know things are going to be right," Washington said. Maybe May is his time. It's only our second year with him. Maybe it's the time that he struggles and then he comes out of it."

Despite his woes at the plate, Napoli said the only thing keeping him sane is his play behind the plate. That was on display in Tuesday's 3-1 victory. After the game, pitcher Matt Harrison said he felt he was on the same page with Napoli, which helped him settle in after the first inning.

"There’s a lot of parts to the game he can play and if one of them isn’t working, just play the other one," Washington said. "He’s doing a good job with that."

Napoli isn't worried about his recent performance and knows it can take a few at-bats to feel comfortable again. He isn't giving up until he reaches that point.

"I’m going to keep grinding and going until I figure it out," Napoli said.

Notes: Thanks to Harrison's ability to eat up innings Tuesday, Washington said every pitcher is available from the bullpen after pitcher Scott Feldman. Harrison went seven innings and picked up the win due to two solid outings from Mike Adams in the eighth with two on and no outs and Joe Nathan in the ninth.

"Everyone is rested, so it's up to Feldman to take us as deep as he possibly can," Washington said.

The Rangers will finally get a day off Thursday after a stretch of 20 games.

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki fashions himself as something of an increasingly knowledgeable baseball fan. After all, the 7-foot German tossed out the first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series, and he's taken over the reins from ex-Stars star Mike Modano as point man for the Heroes Celebrity Baseball Game in Frisco coming up on June 30.

PODCAST
Mavs F Dirk Nowitzki says he's too old to stay with a rebuilding franchise but couldn't imagine himself leaving the city of Dallas. Listen

So surely Nowitzki, who dons a blue Rangers cap and blue jersey with the No. 41 and "Nowitzki" stitched on the back when he takes in games at the Rangers Ballpark, has every right to express an opinion -- just as every other Texas Rangers fan has -- regarding manager Ron Washington's strategy to rest key starters during last week's home stand. It didn't work out so well for the skipper as his team dropped three of four to the Royals and A's.

"We'll be OK, you know we already started resting people left and right. It's a little early in the season for that," Nowitzki told ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's "Galloway & Co.," on Tuesday, sounding off presumably with tongue planted firmly in cheek. "We'll be OK. It's early."

Look, Nowitzki is a guy that hates to take any time off during the grind of an 82-game NBA season. It killed him to miss four games early this season to get his troublesome right knee into game shape and he even scoffs at taking time off during meaningless games at the end of the season. So, yeah, sure, maybe Dirk would have thought twice about giving big-league ball players a day off in mid-May.

"Yeah, I thought it was a little bit aggressive," Nowitzki said of Wash's rest strategy as uproarious laughter erupted in the studio. "I think Ron knows what he's doing. Obviously he led this team to the World Series back-to-back, so you know he's got experience and he knows his players best. Like I said, they've got so many games, then it gets rained out, then you got doubleheaders, so I mean it's a crazy sport and a crazy schedule, so I guess he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for Yu Darvish's shortest outing of the season Monday against those pesky Seattle Mariners, Dirk had thoughts on that, too. He says, fuggedaboutit.

"Hey, it's so many games in baseball, it's tough to bring it every night," Nowitzki said. "It's the same in really every sport. I mean, some nights, I mean, I can't even make a damn layup one foot away. It happens and you know you come back and work hard that week. I don't know what they're training involves, but he'll be back."

Overall, Dirk is liking what he's seeing from the ball club in Arlington.

"We've got a great pitching rotation, I think we're deep at the hitters," Nowitzki said. "So I think when it's all said and done at the end of the year, I think we're going to be there again if we stay injury-free."

SEATTLE -- With a decision yet to be made on who will be the long-term fill-in for Neftali Feliz in the rotation, the Rangers will send Scott Feldman to the mound to start Wednesday. And all Feldman is focused on is Wednesday’s rubber game with the Seattle Mariners.

“You can’t really think of it like that,” Feldman said on possibly filling in for Feliz. “I try to take it one pitch at a time. If you start getting outside of your elements and think about all kinds of other stuff, it’s usually not the best idea. So I’m going to try and keep it simple.”

Feldman wants to do well in his third start, considering it could result to his return to the rotation, but he’s going to take it one game at a time.

“I don’t want to make it something that it’s not,” Feldman said. “I want to go out there and pitch well, and everything else will take care of itself.”

Feldman is 0-1 with a 2.00 ERA in two starts this season. He only pitched a combined eight innings in the two games, but he stretched himself out during spring training and has stayed prepared with side and bullpen sessions.

“It just depends on the stress of the innings he has,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “If he’s able to get through some innings early, it might give him some leeway late.”

The starter-turned-middle reliever said he’s in a different mindset now when he starts than in previous seasons. He said he’s gone through some struggles, namely dealing with knee issues that kept him off the field for most of last season, that have been important learning lessons as he’s grown older.

He’s also learned the importance of changing speeds.

While his repertoire of pitches isn’t as vast as Yu Darvish's, Feldman tinkered with different grips last season and started throwing a changeup during games to add to his sinker, cutter, four-seam fastball, curveball and slider.

“I just got to keep throwing it to gain the trust in it,” Feldman said. “I feel like I’ve gotten to that point now.”

While he has an abundance of pitches to throw Wednesday, Feldman’s goal is the same as it is for every starting pitcher under Washington: keep the Rangers in the game.

SEATTLE -- Texas Rangers starter Matt Harrison knew he was off in the first inning, but he kept his cool. Coupled with some great defensive plays, Harrison was able cruise from then on to collect his second win this month, a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

PODCAST
Rangers manager Ron Washington talks with Bryan Dolgin immediately following the Rangers 3-1 win in Seattle. Listen

Harrison ran into trouble early on after allowing his only two walks of the game. Alex Liddi got a free pass after a nine-pitch at-bat in the first and scored three batters later on a single by former Ranger Justin Smoak. Harrison followed that with an eight-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs, which brought pitching coach Mike Maddux out to the mound.

It took a one pitch, a 404-foot flyout from Casper Wells, to get Harrison out of the jam. Josh Hamilton made a leaping catch into the center field wall.

“I don’t what kind of catch he made, but he was able to run it down,” said Harrison, who threw 35 pitches in the first. “He’s an outstanding defensive player. It was great play to get me out of a jam. It could’ve been either way.”

Harrison said he thought he was overthrowing a bit during the inning, so he backed up on his fastball. He said it helped with his command and allowed him to settle in.

“I felt really good coming into the game,” Harrison said. “I felt like my arm felt the best today as it has all season.”

His defense was able to lend a helping hand. Harrison induced a double-play ball in the second to erase a leadoff single by Michael Saunders. And Hamilton made another leaping grab in the third, robbing Liddi of an extra base hit.

“He kept them in the big part of the field,” manger Ron Washington said. “It says 405 out there [in center field], but it plays like 445.”

Harrison said he had his best changeup of the season and was also able to work his curveball for strikes. Even with his first-inning struggles, Harrison was able to throw 75 of his 114 pitches for strikes and finished with six strikeouts.

“I thought he did a tremendous job after that first inning,” Washington said. “They fought him in that first inning pretty good and got his pitch count up. Then after that, he began to pound the strike zone.”

Washington left Harrison in the game in the eighth after he struck out Dustin Ackley to end the seventh, but Harrison gave up back-to-back singles to start the inning. Washington pulled Harrison with no outs, but Mike Adams came on and was able to leave Liddi and Ichiro Suzuki stranded on the bags.

“I had no doubt when I sent him out there and I had no doubt when I went and got him,” Washington said. “I felt good when I sent him out there. He was throwing the ball really good. It just didn’t work out.”

Washington will certainly take a one-run pitching performance, especially considering how it started and how Harrison's last two starts finished. Harrison lost his last two decisions before Tuesday’s game, allowing seven earned runs in 11 1/3 innings to the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels.

“I hope he understands what it takes to go deep in the ballgame,” Washington said. “That’s to make the opponents swing the bats and make that good defense behind you play.”

SEATTLE -- Even Josh Hamilton's wife noticed something was off during his recent at-bats.

After his hot start this month, including the four home-run performance against the Baltimore Orioles on May 8, Hamilton has been in a funk recently.

He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Monday's game with Felix Hernandez on the mound. Hamilton is 3-for-17 in his last five games, with twice as many strikeouts (4) as RBIs (2). His batting average has dipped from .404 to .379 in that span.

"Honey, I know you're frustrated because you don't feel quite right right now," Hamilton's wife told him. "You're trying to do too much and swing at pitches you're not supposed to."

Hamilton said he was thinking too much at the plate and his pitch recognition was off because he wasn't squared up to pitchers.

“If you can’t recognize that, you get overly geared up or the opposite way where you’re not aggressive enough," Hamilton said.

Hamilton analyzed film Tuesday and noticed his stance was closed. His outside shoulder was slightly off and turned in. His left eye is his dominant eye, which is the back eye when he's at the plate. Hamilton said he wasn't looking with both eyes at the pitcher.

"It's amazing how something can be just a little bit off and it throws a bunch of stuff off," Hamilton said.

Hamilton said pitches that were 90 mph looked like they were 100 mph. He didn't think pitchers, including Hernandez, were throwing anything different in his at-bats. Hamilton said Hernandez was throwing hard inside and soft away. He struck out both times against Hernandez on pitches low and out of the strike zone.

"Until Josh stops swinging at it, why throw it in the zone?" Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "I don't see any pitches that pitchers are making that's causing Josh to do that. It's just sometimes Josh gets in that type of funk."

Washington recently said the only thing holding Hamilton back from the next level is discipline. He wants Hamilton to learn that on his own at the plate.

"If we try to create it then we take the aggressiveness away from Josh," Washington said. "For four or five days, you might see that, and then for four or five days he'll tear the cover off the ball. That's Josh."

Notes: Neftali Feliz's absence won't affect the Rangers' alignment of scheduled starters against the Blue Jays this weekend. Scott Feldman will pitch the series finale against the Mariners on Wednesday, and Derek Holland, Colby Lewis and Yu Darvish will pitch in the three-game set against Toronto.

As far as Feliz's replacement after this week, well, that's still to be determined.

"We haven't discussed anything beyond [Wednesday]," Washington said. "We'll have to figure it out."

SEATTLE -- Maybe it's the Northwest green uniforms. Or the fact that Japanese icon Ichiro Suzuki is on the team. Whatever the case, Yu Darvish had another short outing on the mound against the Seattle Mariners.

Darvish lasted just four innings -- his shortest start in nine trips to the mound -- and allowed four earned runs on four hits and six walks in a 6-1 loss Monday night.

It appeared to be the pitchers duel everyone anticipated between Darvish and Felix Hernandez after two innings, but Darvish couldn't find the strike zone as his outing progressed.

Suzuki had an RBI triple in the first inning, but Darvish ended up striking out the side with his slider. Darvish faced the minimum in the second inning, but the wheels came off in the third.

Five of Darvish's six walks came in the third and fourth innings. Suzuki drove in his second run in the third on a ball Darvish left over the middle of the plate.

"Early part of the game, I was ok with my command," Darvish said through an interpretor. "But somewhere in the middle when I needed to throw strikes, I struggled to get strikes in those situations."

He didn't get off to a great start in the fourth. Darvish walked the bases loaded, yet managed to give up just one run thanks to some key force-outs at the plate on plays by third baseman Adrian Beltre and shortstop Elvis Andrus. He struck out Kyle Seager in what would be the last batter he faced.

"It's kind of tough giving up four hits and five runs," Mike Napoli said. "When you walk people, it's pretty tough to minimize damage."

Washington had a lengthy talk with Darvish in the dugout after his outing. He told Darvish he was pulled mainly due to his high pitch count, despite how he finished the fourth. Darvish threw 96 pitches.

"He actually didn't know how many pitches he had, and I was trying to explain to him we're not out to hurt you," Washington said. "That's a lot of pitches in a short period of time, and we need him for the rest of the season."

The Mariners are the only team to rack up more than three earned runs on Darvish, and they've now done it twice. It's the only team Darvish has faced more than once. The Mariners collected five earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings against Darvish in his first career start. The Mariners have accounted for nine of Darvish's 19 earned runs this season.

Darvish even apologized to Washington for his outing.

"He expected more, but I told him he didn't have to apologize to me," Washington said. "It's a part of baseball. It happens. But I'm more than certain when he sees Seattle again, he'll have something for them."

Darvish said Washington's comments were reassuring. He was disappointed he couldn't go deeper into the game and felt his overall approach Monday wasn't good.

"Next time I want to make sure that I don't go through that and improve on it," Darvish said.

SEATTLE -- With pitcher Neftali Feliz not throwing for at least four weeks, Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington are keeping their options open for possible moves. They haven't met to discuss the situation, but Daniels said nothing is out of the question.

Daniels acknowledged that free agent Roy Oswalt is a possibility but that he's not an immediate option.

"He's not ready to go," Daniels said. "He hasn't thrown to hitters yet. It'll definitely take him some time. I don't know how much time, but he's not an immediate option."

Oswalt, 34, hasn't pitched in a major league game since Game 4 of last season's NLDS for the Philadelphia Phillies. He had a 3.69 ERA in 23 regular-season starts last year.

Alexi Ogando is also a possibility, but Daniels said he's not an option to jump into the rotation immediately. Ogando is not stretched out to be a starter, though Daniels said that wouldn't take long. The Rangers also want to look at his role in the bullpen and how it would affect its makeup.

"He's shown that he can perform at a very high level," Daniels said. "He was an All-Star starting pitcher last year. There's definitely an attractive side of putting him in the rotation, but we've got to be realistic. He's not ready to do it, sitting here today."

HOUSTON -- Over the last three games, Nelson Cruz had struggled.

He was 2-for-13 in that span.

He broke out of his slump Sunday.

Cruz finished with three hits, including a two-out two-run single as part of a five-run first inning.

"I think my approach has been good the last few games," Cruz said. "I'm seeing a lot of good pitches and wait for the right pitches."

Cruz also took off his batting gloves, something he does when he's struggling. He did it Saturday night, too.

"I don't know the last time I did it," Cruz said. "I felt the bat better."

Said Ron Washington on Cruz's day: "Did a lot for his confidence."

HOUSTON -- Saturday afternoon, Colby Lewis was stretched out in front of his stall in the Rangers clubhouse relaxing. He looked like a man without a care in the world.

But he does have some worries.

Lewis, who starts Sunday afternoon's Silver Boot finale against the Houston Astros, has lost his last three games.

"Wins and losses don't really (duplicate) sometimes on how you pitch," Lewis said. "In 2010, I went though it. Sometimes when things are not going your way it seems it all comes in bunches. So it's like when I started the year with quality starts, everything happens in bunches. You want to eliminate the ones that are bad, that's it and try to get on a roll."

Lewis won three of his first five starts but now hasn't won a game since April 28.

In his last start, May 14, two throwing errors led to five unearned runs. In the previous start, May 10, he struck out 12 over seven innings, but gave up six earned runs.

"I threw the ball great (May 10), and then I beat myself the last start," Lewis said. "So it's not about any common denominator, like (Ron Washington) says, it's the way baseball go. I beat myself and they beat me with the homers in the previous start so nothing really too different."

HOUSTON -- Derek Holland said he was frustrated but everything he tried failed.

The Texas Rangers left-handed starter lost a four-run lead, gave up a season-high three home runs and was taken out after just five innings.

He took the loss in a 6-5 victory for the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

It was Holland's first start since May 10, but he pitched one inning of relief Monday against Kansas City and had one bullpen session before the team arrived here.

So with all the rest, what happened?

"The first two innings, he was real sharp," manager Ron Washington said. "Then all of a sudden he couldn't get the ball to his arm side, which means he had to come to the middle of the plate or inside, and he didn't get there and those right-handed hitters just turned him around. When the first two innings started, I thought he was on his way to having a pretty good game, it just didn't turn out that way. He got the ball up and got into some wrong spots and those right-handed hitters didn't miss it."

Holland (3-3) allowed five runs, all earned, on five hits and two walks. He struck out six while throwing 100 pitches. In the first three innings, Holland struck out three and only allowed two hits, an infield single by Jed Lowrie and a home run to the No. 8 hitter Chris Snyder.

It unraveled in the fourth when he walked Justin Maxwell to start things and gave up a home run to cleanup hitter Carlos Lee to cut a 4-1 deficit to one. In the fifth, he gave up a two-out single to Jose Altuve and Maxwell hit what Washington called a "bomb" to left that gave the Astros a 5-4 lead.

Washington said his young starter has to finish the deal when given a lead.

"It's obvious I was supposed to put that away," Holland said. "But I couldn't get my fastball down and a couple of pitches got away and they hit them."

Holland said he didn't really know what was going on with his lack of command after the second inning.

"To be honest, I couldn't really tell you exactly what it was," he said. "I just know my fastball command went erratic all of a sudden. I couldn't locate down, everything was up. Just fell behind a lot so it made it predictable what to sit on, too."

HOUSTON -- There was an interesting omission from the Texas Rangers defense late in Saturday's 6-5 loss to the Houston Astros. Right fielder Nelson Cruz wasn't in the outfield for the last defensive inning.

He was taken out as a precaution with a tight right quad, and manager Ron Washington wanted some speed in the outfield. He moved center fielder Josh Hamilton to right in the eighth because he was due to bat in the top of the ninth inning. Craig Gentry, a late-game pinch hitter, played center, and Brandon Snyder, another late-game pinch hitter, played left.

Washington said it wasn't anything serious with Cruz, but noticed something was bothering him earlier in the game.

Cruz downplayed his health issue saying he's been battling it for some time.

"Just tightness, nothing big," Cruz said. "It's the right one, it's nothing big. I've been playing [with it] the last three games."

Health isn't the only thing Cruz is battling. He failed to deliver in the top of the eighth inning with his club down a run. With runners at first and second and none out, Cruz hit a liner to right for the first out.

"It wasn't productive," Washington said.

"I just tried to drive the ball and move the runner. That was my approach," Cruz said. "Move the runner, but I hit a flyball deep and I missed my pitch."

Coming into the game, Cruz was hitting .256 with runners in scoring position with a team-high 14 strikeouts in 43 at-bats.

He said he's not pressing in those situations because he's had success in the past as evidenced by his 17 RBIs.

"If I get five at-bats, I want to get five hits," Cruz said of hitting with RISP. "My approach is going to be the same. I've been there before. I know what to do."

HOUSTON -- The Texas Rangers blew an early four-run lead and had a rally fall just a run short in a 6-5 loss to the Houston Astros on Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

Lefty Derek Holland, in his first starting appearance in eight days, had a four-run lead, but gave up a season-high three home runs and took the loss. The Rangers' biggest highlight was a David Murphy inside-the-park home run in the third that drove in three runs to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead.

Holland loses lead: Holland last started May 10 at Baltimore. He then pitched one inning in relief May 14 and had a bullpen session a few days later. Holland said he wasn't working on anything specifically and the extended rest shouldn't bother him. He pitched well early until the middle innings. With a 4-1 lead, Holland walked Justin Maxwell to start the fourth inning. Carlos Lee hammered a fastball to left for a home run to cut the deficit to 4-3. In the fifth, Holland gave up a two-out single to Jose Altuve and Maxwell hit a homer off a belt-high pitch to left, giving the Astros a 5-4 lead. Holland left after five innings. He gave up five earned runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out six.

Late rally shut down: The Rangers cut a two-run deficit to one when Josh Hamilton drove in Elvis Andrus on a sacrifice fly to right in the seventh inning. The Rangers tried to get a rally going in the eighth. Michael Young and Brandon Snyder reached on singles to start the inning. Reliever Brandon Lyon was brought in to minimize the damage. He got Nelson Cruz to fly out to right and Mike Napoli hit into what was almost a 4-6-3 double play. Instead, Napoli was ruled out at first but Snyder was safe at second when shortstop Jed Lowrie came off the bag too early on the relay throw from second baseman Altuve. Pinch hitter Craig Gentry ended the inning with a flyout to center.

The bullpen: Closer Joe Nathan appeared to be unavailable after pitching four consecutive days for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2010. Setup man Mike Adams was also unavailable because he's still recovering from a respiratory infection. It left manager Ron Washington to use Alexi Ogando, Mark Lowe and Koji Uehara as the setup men. Robbie Ross was available for at least one hitter after pitching Friday night. Ogando appeared in the sixth inning, relieving Holland. He allowed one run on two hits in two innings of work. Lowe pitched a scoreless eighth. He's allowed just one run the last nine games.

Hamilton in homerless string: Hamilton hasn't hit a home run the last seven games, his longest drought of the season. No biggie. Hamilton still leads the majors with 18 home runs. Hamilton had a six-game stretch where he hit nine home runs. When his night was over, Hamilton was 0-3.

Murphy hits inside-the-park home run: Murphy's third-inning inside-the-park home run was the first of his career and the 23rd in franchise history. Murphy sent a shot to right-center field where right fielder Maxwell missed a diving catch. Murphy beat the throw home easily. It was Murphy's first inside-the-park homer of his career and first for the Rangers since Gentry did it Sept. 23, 2011.

Notes: The Rangers started the season 15-4 but since then have gone just 10-12, including a 8-10 mark in May. ... Because of pinch hitters, the Rangers moved Hamilton to right field in the ninth inning.

Next: The Rangers and Astros play the finale of the Silver Boot series at Minute Maid Park. Colby Lewis takes on Jordan Lyles at 1:05 p.m.