Kansas City @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Apr 3, 2010 ) Kansas City 10, Texas 7
Texas Rangers left-hander Matt Harrison was on the outside looking in for a spot in the starting rotation entering spring training. But the 24-year-old Harrison showed up in the best shape of his life and got off to an impressive start, securing his spot when Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter went down with injuries.
Harrison looks to win his second straight game for the Rangers on Thursday night, when he takes the hill in the opener of a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals.
In his last start, Harrison reaped the benefits of his new found fitness. He labored over six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts in the Rangers’ 6-3 win over the Mariners for his first victory of the season.
Harrison threw 127 pitches, the most from a Rangers pitcher since R.A. Dickey unleashed 131 on May 2, 2004. Harrison also became the quickest pitcher in team history to win 14 games, doing so in his 31st career start. That is better than the 33 games Kevin Brown needed to reach the 14-win mark.
Regardless, Harrison still has a 7.88 ERA in his last three starts and his pitch-count is an issue. The Rangers simply want Harrison, who is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two career starts against the Royals, to continue the recent string of success by Texas starters.
The Rangers have won nine of their last 14, and have had their starters pitch at least six innings in 11 straight games.The bullpen has a 1.80 ERA in the last six games because of the reduced workload,
Offensively, the Rangers need to improve upon their 1-for-8 performance with runners in scoring position from Wednesday. David Murphy, who is getting more playing time with Nelson Cruz on the disabled list, is hitting .095 in his last seven games and went 0-for-4. Julio Borbon and Justin Smoak also have averages below .200.
One bright spot has been Vladimir Guerrero, who is on a five-game hitting streak and has the best home batting average in the American League with a blistering .449.
Kansas City is countering with righty Kyle Davies to pitch opposite Harrison. Davies is seeking his first career win against Texas. In his five career games against the Rangers, Davies is 0-3 with a 5.55 ERA.
The Royals have won four of Davies’ five starts so far this season. Davies has pitched well his past two starts, allowing two runs with a season-high six strikeouts in six innings against Tampa Bay in his last start after tossing six shutout innings against Seattle.
The Royals also need better hitting in clutch situations if they want to improve on their 3-4 record during a season-long 11-game road trip. They hit just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position in a 9-2 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday night
The Rangers and Royals split last year’s six-game season series 3-3.