Adrian Beltre excused from Rangers workout to rest back

ARLINGTON, Texas – Adrian Beltre stayed home Saturday, resting his strained lower back and taking medications.

The Texas Rangers still were unsure if their veteran third baseman would be back in the lineup for Game 3 of the A.L. Division Series on Sunday night, when the Rangers are going for a sweep in the best-of-five series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Beltre strained his back sliding into second base during Game 1 in Toronto, and exited early from the series opener Thursday before sitting out Game 2 on Friday. The Rangers excused him from coming to the ballpark for their workout at home before Game 3.

“He’s day to day, has made some improvement, continues to get better,” manager Jeff Banister said after Saturday’s workout. “We felt like the best thing for him to do is rest and get the treatments as needed.”

While Beltre was seen during the Rangers’ 14-inning victory Friday with a bat in his hand, and took some swings in the tunnel, he never entered the game.

“You can never, never count Adrian out of anything, and where I think he is right now is probably irrelevant,” Banister said. “It’s about where he’s at.”

Beltre will be reevaluated before Sunday’s game.

“I’m trying to absorb all the back pain I possibly can,” Banister said. “Talking about take it all, gladly.”

Rookie Hanser Alberto took over for Beltre at third base, where he had an error by also drove in two runs. Alberto had a sacrifice fly and later an RBI single for the tiebreaking run in the 14th inning of the 6-4 victory.

Alberto and fellow rookie Joey Gallo, who is not on the ALDS roster, were taking grounders at third base during Saturday’s workout.