Some familiarity for Hamels in Rangers debut

ARLINGTON, Texas - The color of the jersey and cap were the same.

"He was with the Phillies, so he must have wanted to wear the red," one security guard at Globe Life Park said to another as Cole Hamels took the mound for his Texas Rangers debut against the San Francisco Giants.

It was not actually Hamels' choice. The Rangers' policy most nights is to let the starting pitcher pick the uniform, but Saturdays they go with red, and that just happened to also make their new pitcher feel comfortable.

Hamels also stuck with Australia's AC/DC as his warm-up band, but he changed the tune from "Hells Bells" to "For Those About to Rock."

Other than that, everything was different Saturday night for Hamels. This was the new beginning after a 13-year run with the Phillies that will one day lead him back to Philadelphia for a Wall of Fame tribute like the one the team gave to Pat Burrell Friday night.

Hamels actually paid his old team a tribute upon arrival here, commenting on the Phillies' white-hot run since the all-star break.

"I think it's guys finally feeling they can create their own identity," he said Friday. "There is a sense of freedom when you are able to work through some of the difficulties, and then when you are finally able to click, then there is that belief and guys can feed off each other . . . and you're starting to see that."

What we saw from Hamels in his Rangers debut was a solid performance that had some bumps in the road and a disastrous ending that was choreographed by Hunter Pence, another former Phillie who has lived a charmed life since leaving Philadelphia.

Hamels covered 72/3 innings in the Texas heat - it was 94 degrees at game time - and left to a standing ovation with a 7-4 lead after giving up a two-out double to Joe Panik. The lead immediately disappeared when reliever Tanner Scheppers allowed three straight hits, including a game-tying single by Pence.

"Getting that ovation from the fans is hard to describe," he said. "It's the ultimate excitement. It definitely humbles you, because they appreciate what you did, even though I wanted to go out and put up more zeroes than I did."

Jake Diekman - the other guy in the trade - finally ended the inning with a strikeout, but Hamels was left with a no decision and the Rangers with an awful, 9-7 11-inning loss, thanks to homers by Pence and Brandon Belt in the 11th inning.

Hamels emerged from the home dugout along the first-base line at 6:20 p.m. local time and made his way out to the right-field bullpen.

"Here comes Cole Hamels," an excited fan sitting just above the Texas bullpen announced.

No one noticed that he was accompanied by Bobby Wilson, a catcher who was about to make his Rangers debut, too, after being claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay earlier in the week. A small gathering of fans took some photos of the Rangers' new ace with their phones, but you got the feeling if the roles were reversed and a big-time acquisition had arrived in Philadelphia there would have been a lot more hoopla and colorful chatter above the bullpen.

For his part, Hamels was just happy to be back on the mound after an intense seven-day stretch that started with his no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs a week earlier at Wrigley Field and culminated with the official news of his trade from the Phillies on Friday.

"Being out on the mound is probably the one comfort zone that I have and a lot of guys in that room have," Hamels said on Friday. "It is where we let the chaos - the good and the bad - disappear for that moment of the game.

"We're able to go back to the business of something we truly enjoy and we truly love. Being able to be out there and striving to be the best. That's where I feel the most comfortable and the most at peace."

Hamels, 31, figures to have more than a few challenges with his new team. He talked about dealing with the intense Texas heat.

"I think everybody has to adjust to the heat," he said. "You have to hydrate and make sure you cool your body down before you go out for the next inning. You have to be able to maintain so you can pitch seven, eight, nine innings. I look forward to the challenge, and I know I'm up for it."

The other new challenge for Hamels will be consistently facing American League teams that do not have pitchers hitting at the bottom of the lineup. He was 8-15 with a 4.73 ERA in 31 career starts against American League teams with the Phillies. Hamels often had a difficult time when facing the Giants, including his disastrous 12-hit, nine-run start in San Francisco last month.

The lefty started his Rangers career with a four-pitch strikeout of Angel Pagan, and his string of innings without allowing a hit reached 11 before Brandon Belt opened the top of the third by launching a 2-0 pitch over the center-field wall for a home run. By the end of the inning, Hamels had allowed three more hits and two more runs as the Giants overcame a 2-0 deficit to take the lead.

Hamels' new Texas teammates restored that two-run lead with a run in the third and two more in the sixth, but it looked like he might cough it up again in the seventh. Buster Posey led off that inning with his 15th home run of the season, and pitching coach Mike Maddux came out to talk to Hamels after the pitcher followed a one-out single with his first walk.

The Rangers turned an inning-ending double play on his next pitch, but even after putting up some insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh, Hamels' new teammates could not get him a victory.

@brookob