García lands on IL with ankle sprain; Carter activated earlier than expected

ARLINGTON -- Adolis García had only been on the injured list once in his entire big league career. Now it’s twice.

García, who had started 115 of the Rangers’ 121 games this season -- including 55 straight starts since June 10 -- landed on the injured list with a left ankle sprain on Wednesday prior to Texas' 6-4 loss to the D-backs. Evan Carter was activated from the injured list as the corresponding move.

Manager Bruce Bochy said they don’t have an exact timeline just yet, but García may only miss the requisite 10 days.

García has struggled mightily this season, hitting .224/.266/.388 with 16 home runs, 24 doubles, 64 RBIs, 10 stolen bases, 24 walks and 122 strikeouts. His .654 OPS so far this season is a career low.

He is also slashing just .213/.256/.410 over his last 30 games.

“Well, you try to look at the silver lining,” Bochy said. “Now, he can back off a little bit because he's probably been pressing a lot.”

Carter -- who had been sidelined with back spasms since Aug. 2 -- played just one game on rehab assignment with Double-A Frisco, going 0-for-2 with two walks and a hit by pitch. He also took live batting practice at Globe Life Field in the days leading up to his rehab assignment.

Carter has a history of back issues, including surgery this past offseason, and the club hoped to be cautious with his ramp-up. García’s injury prompted the Rangers to activate Carter sooner than expected.

“I can't give you a number of games or at-bats, but he'll let us know when he's ready,” Bochy said on Tuesday. “Sometimes you're forced to make moves. We've been in that situation, but hopefully that doesn't happen to give him time to get some at-bats just to play the game, get his legs back in shape and all those things that he's gonna need to do when he comes up here.”

Over his past 40 games dating back to June 8, Carter has hit .262/.350/.429 with three home runs, two triples, eight doubles, and 18 RBIs. Texas had gone 25-15 over that stretch.

Since he was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on May 6, Carter has slashed .238/.323/.381 in 55 games.

“I said when he went down that we'd like to give him some games, but sometimes you’re forced to rush things a little bit and we are,” Bochy said. “We do need guys that can get on base, guys that can create more traffic, and he's a guy that can certainly do that.”