Rangers looking into Tolleson’s struggles

ARLINGTON — The morning after Shawn Tolleson blew his third save of the season, Rangers manager Jeff Banister defended his closer and said he has no intention of moving Tolleson from his role. But Banister acknowledged something isn’t right with the righty who succeeded in 35 of 37 save opportunities last season. The Rangers haven’t been able to pinpoint the issue.

Tolleson has 11 saves in 14 opportunities this season, missing out on one Saturday night, when he gave up back-to-back homers to the Blue Jays to erase a three-run lead before the Rangers won in 10 innings. Tolleson’s ERA is now 7.07 and opponents are hitting .323 against him.

“Has he had a stretch here where it’s been a challenge? Yeah,” Banister said. “We’re looking into why that challenge is.”

Banister noted that Tolleson’s fastball velocity and strike percentage are actually better than last season. Banister’s first instinct as to why Tolleson has had trouble at times is that his changeup is less effective, but it’s harder for the manager to theorize about the specific problem with that pitch now.

Tolleson seems less confident in his changeup, or at least more reluctant to throw it. Last season, 19.1 percent of his pitches were changeups; this season, he’s thrown it 13.6 percent of the time. His changeup velocity also averages 1.9 mph faster this year.

“This year, they seem to be hitting his changeup a …

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