ARLINGTON - This is the evolution of an ace: In three months as an AL pitcher, Cole Hamels has continued to shed relying on the pitch that made him an ace in the first place.

Because of it, he may be more dangerous than ever.

Against Houston, Wednesday, it was clear very quickly that Hamels didn't have a great feel for his four-seam fastball, the pitch that has been at the core of his repertoire for most of his career. So? When you've now got four other pitches to turn to in almost equal ratios, you've still got a way to win.

And win, he did, taking advantage of a Rougned Odor homer, two strong throws from his outfielders and Houston's baserunning follies for a 2-1 victory. He has won his last 10 decisions and the Rangers have won his last 14 regular-season starts.

It is a testament to what he now brings to the table: An unpredictable sequences of pitches in which he feels equally confident. It makes him more prepared to grind through nights like Wednesday when he looked completely vulnerable early.

"I hope so," Hamels said of being better equipped for troublesome nights. "It's why I've worked so hard to develop so many other pitches. This was one of those rare nights where I didn't have [the four-seamer] dialed in. But when you've got three other pitches to throw for strikes, you've still got a way to keep them off balance."

Hamels hit Jose Altuve, the first batter of the game, with a four-seamer. He missed with two four-seamers to the next batter, George Springer, then hit him with a full-count sinker. He missed with another four-seamer to third hitter, Carlos Correa, before deciding he'd move on to other "checkpoints" for himself. Namely, the changeup, curve and cutter.

He struck Correa out with a flurry of changes and got out of the inning on a strikeout-caught stealing double play.

In the second, he tried the four-seamer again. Missed when he was ahead of Colby Rasmus. Gave up a single to Evan Gattis. Missed to start off an at-bat against Carlos Gomez that turned into a bases-loading bunt single. And then, he found another way to get out of the inning. The Astros ran themselves into a double play on a fly ball to right field on which Nomar Mazara made a strong throw home, halting Rasmus in his tracks. The other runners got jumbled up behind him.

The Astros made another mistake in the third, testing Ian Desmond's arm on a leadoff single by Jose Altuve. Desmond threw a strike to second.

From there, he simply mixed his pitches so evenly that Houston hitters never really got a feel. In all, he threw all five of his pitches (including both fastballs) at least 17 times apiece. It's the third time in 310 major league starts he's done that. Two of them have come in April of this season. All three since the start of last July. He's allowed a total of three runs in the three starts over 20.2 innings, all of the runs scoring on bases-empty homers.

"Cole has really good feel for the baseball and knows what he wants to do," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "When you have good feel and trust your release point, you can manipulate the ball. I don't know if I'd call it an evolution. I'd call it using his skill set."

It's a skill set he's developed, honed and enlarged over the course of his career.

If that's not evolution, it's maturation and adaptation.

Twitter: @EvanPGrant