ARLINGTON, Texas — Justin Thompson waited six years and went through four shoulder operations before finally pitching for the Texas Rangers.

After making just two appearances for Texas and allowing two home runs, the former All-Star was optioned to Class AAA Oklahoma yesterday when the Rangers recalled left-hander Erasmo Ramirez.

"This guy is going to pitch, and I think he wants to with us," manager Buck Showalter said. "As far as he's come, and where he's gotten physically and stuff-wise, he thinks there's some more there. ... With this guy's makeup and pedigree, I know it's tough."

Showalter expects Thompson, 32, to be a starter at Oklahoma, which had an opening in its rotation. He could return in September to the Rangers, who got the left-hander during the trade in which they gave up two-time AL MVP Juan Gonzalez.

"I'd like to see him get back down there and get on the horse," Showalter said.

Thompson was visibly disappointed in the clubhouse and didn't talk to reporters before the Rangers' game against Minnesota.

Texas purchased Thompson's contract from Oklahoma on Aug. 16, and two days later he made his first major league appearance since Aug. 15, 1999. He gave up a two-run homer to Cleveland's Jhonny Peralta, and in his only other appearance for the Rangers he gave up a grand slam Thursday to Ichiro.

Once a power pitcher, Thompson had to adjust his style of pitching after four operations from August 1999 to September 2001.

"Now I have to work both sides of the plate a lot more. I have to pitch more," Thompson said this week. "I relied on my ability a lot more the first time I came up. ... I have to establish myself again. I have to prove that I belong here and I have to go out and get people out."

Thompson was just 18 when he was a supplemental pick by Detroit after the first round of the 1991 amateur draft. His first full season for the Tigers came in 1997, when he was an All-Star, and he struck out Ken Griffey Jr. the first six times they faced each other, the only pitcher ever to do so.

Texas acquired Thompson in the nine-player deal that sent Gonzalez to Detroit in November 1999, nearly three months after he had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

After starting his first season in Texas on the disabled list recovering, Thompson pitched in the minor leagues before he began to experience discomfort in his shoulder. He had two more operations that year and another in 2001.