ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Left-handed starter Derek Holland, the Rangers' projected No. 2 starter, who has missed the season due to his recovery from knee surgery, lasted just one inning in his second rehab start for Triple-A Round Rock on Monday night.
Holland was scheduled to pitch three innings, but he threw 42 pitches and he allowed four earned runs on two home runs, allowing one walk and striking out three against Memphis.
Holland allowed back-to-back home runs, a three-run shot to Memphis' Scott Moore and a solo shot by Audry Perez.
Both home runs came off 94 mph fastballs.
At one point during his outing, Holland was visited by Round Rock pitching Brad Holman after going 1-0 to Jermaine Curtis, who eventually walked.
"It was an upsetting start," said Holland, who was schedule to throw either 50 pitches or work three innings, whichever came first. "But the positives are I look at my offspeed pitches, I felt like I had great command of those. The negative side of it was my fastball. Command was still a little jumpy. The velocity was great, location wise I had a couple of good ones, and a bad one, a couple of good ones and a bad one. So, just trying to get the consistency with the fastball is the main thing right now."
Last week, in Holland's first rehab outing, for Double-A Frisco, he pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and two walks while throwing 33 pitches.
He was encouraged by that start, but mindful he still needed work in commanding his pitches and showing the Rangers' scouts he can move off the mound if necessary.
Holland didn't appear to have any problems moving off the mound and described his knee as great following his outing. Yet, when his night was over, he did some work in the bullpen against live hitters and still had trouble with the command of his fastball.
"I could see my fastball command is still not where I want it," Holland said of the bullpen session after his one-inning of work. "It's a little erratic. It's going to take a little bit of time. As (Rangers pitching coach Mike) Maddox told me and (Rangers manager Ron Washington) Wash said to me, 'This is spring training for me.' I didn’t get to see any hitters, I didn’t get to play in a game. It's not my excuse I still got to get myself back into the swing of things and they're full steam ahead. I haven't seen a hitter. I'm excited and I'm happy to be out there, and I still got a lot of ground to cover."
Holland said his next start might come Saturday for Double-A Frisco when they host Tulsa.