ARLINGTON -- With home-field advantage already sewn up and stowed away, there really were very few opportunities for numbers to have any importance over the final two games of the Rangers' season.

These matter, though: 6.1 and 101.

That was the number of innings Colby Lewis pitched and the number of pitches he threw Saturday in a mostly meaningless 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay.

The only "significance" to the actual outcome: Whether the Rangers could sweep Tampa Bay and finish with a club-record 97 wins. Alas, they won't, though a win in Sunday's season finale will tie the franchise record set in 2011.

Lewis' numbers matter because the Rangers aren't going to bypass him in their playoff rotation for a second consecutive year. For one, he's their most tested option to fill out the rotation. For another, they bypassed him last year and that didn't work out so well.

By getting through six innings, an optimal point at which to hand things off to the bullpen, and crossing 100 pitches, he gave them the quantitative post-disabled list performance to assure them he is ready.

"I think the number of 'ups,' and getting his pitch count up were both significant," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said in reference to the number of times Lewis rested between innings and then got warm again. "He had not gotten there. I feel comfortable that as long as he responds well in-between, we'll feel good about where he is at."

The Rangers have accelerated Lewis' preparation for the playoffs after he missed 10 weekswith a lat muscle strain. His start Saturday was only his fourth since returning and that came after a rather rushed rehab stint.

So, it didn't really matter to them that Lewis gave up four runs - all in the same inning - or that he couldn't minimize the damage from a two-base fielding error by Rougned Odor. It didn't matter that he allowed a two-out walk to Brad Miller and then a three-run homer to Corey Dickerson to cap off that third inning. It was important that he got out of the inning eventually, which he couldn't do at Oakland last weekend. And it was significant that he rebounded to pitch three scoreless innings after the third.

In his previous start, Lewis had gotten into trouble in the second inning against the similarly offensively-challenged A's and couldn't find a way out of it. A couple of soft hits and balls lost in the sun turned into something much uglier when Lewis allowed a walk to the No. 9 hitter, a bases-clearing double to Stephen Vogt and a two-run homer to Ryon Healy. He was pulled after throwing 36 pitches in the inning.

"I actually feel like I got sharper as the game went on," Lewis said. "I didn't feel fatigued going deeper. I'm looking forward to the next one."

Last year, Lewis led the Rangers in innings pitched and wins, but the club opted to bypass him in the rotation against Toronto for lefties Martin Perez and Derek Holland. The Rangers lost both those starts at home, forcing a deciding Game 5 in Toronto.

This time around, they won't do any second guessing.

Lewis assured them he's ready Saturday.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant