Kohei Arihara To Make Second Rangers Start of 2022

Arihara is hoping to improve on his first outing of the season, which came on Tuesday against Oakland.

Kohei Arihara will make just his second start of 2022 when he and the Texas Rangers take the hill against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 p.m.

The Rangers (54-66) are now 1-1 in this four-game series with the Twins. The Rangers lost, 2-1, to the Twins on Friday. On Saturday, the Rangers beat the Twins, 4-3, in 10 innings.

Arihara turned 30 on Aug. 11 and earned a promotion to the Rangers when they selected his contract from Triple-A Round Rock in advance of his first start on Tuesday. The Rangers were in need of a fifth starter after injuries to Jon Gray and Spencer Howard, along with the fact that the Rangers don’t have an off day until Aug. 25.

In his first start on Tuesday against Oakland, he threw 5 2/3 innings, giving up eight hits, three runs (all earned) and three walks, He struck out six, gave up a home run and threw 93 pitches, 56 of which were strikes. The 93 pitches was a career-high. He also tied his career-high in strikeouts, which came on April 19, 2021, against the Los Angeles Angels.

He’ll be looking for his first quality start (six innings or more) at the Major League level when he makes his start on Sunday.

Before Tuesday, Arihara hadn’t pitched the Majors since Sept. 15, 2021, when he pitched against the Houston Astros.

In five career road starts, he is 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA in 23 innings. The Rangers have gone 3-2 in those starts. It’s a marked contrast to Arihara’s record at home, where in six starts he is 0-4 with an 8.87 ERA in 23 inning and a 1-5 Rangers record.

He started 2022 at Round Rock, where he went 3-6 with a 4.88 ERA in 18 games (14 starts).

The Rangers originally acquired him on Dec. 26, 2020, when they signed him to a two-year deal from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) Pacific League. He went 60-50 in the NPB.

He made the Rangers’ 2021 opening-day rotation, but his season was truncated by a posterior circumflex humeral artery aneurysm in his right shoulder, which required surgery. He ended up going 2-4 with a 6.64 ERA in 10 starts for the Rangers.

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