Tampa Bay @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jun 5, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 1, Texas 6
Texas Rangers right-hander Rich Harden entered spring training under the assumption he would be become the staff ace. That hasn’t been the case more than two months into the season.
Harden has struggled, posting a 5.33 ERA and leading the American League with 37 walks. But the Rangers will continue to stick with Harden, who will try and pitch Texas to a three-game sweep over the Tampa Bay Rays in the series finale this afternoon.
The Rays will start right-hander Matt Garza.
In his last start, Harden earned the victory even though he went only five innings and allowed four runs (all earned) on seven hits with three walks and a strikeout. In his past four starts, Harden is 1-0 despite posting an 8.84 ERA.
Harden has pitched well at Rangers Ballpark this year, going 1-0 with a 3.70 ERA, and has fared decently against the Rays in five career starts, going 3-1 with a 4.94 ERA.
Offensively, Josh Hamilton is on a tear for the Rangers. Going into the season, one of the keys was to have Hamilton return to his 2008 form and he has showed signs of doing just that. He homered on Saturday for the second straight game, finishing with a two-run blast and a solo shot.
Elvis Andrus also came through with a double, triple and two RBIs and has hit safely in 30 of his past 33 games.
There might be something about facing the Rays and playing at home for the Rangers, too. Against the Rays, the Rangers are 16-7 over the last four seasons. And, at home this year, the Rangers are 20-9.
The Rays, meanwhile, aren’t going to read too much into those stats.
Instead, they’ll look to Garza, who has pitched well all season. Garza is coming off a rough outing against the Blue Jays on Monday, when he allowed three runs over 6 1/3 innings and took the loss.
In seven lifetime starts against the Rangers, Garza is 3-3 with a 4.30 ERA.
More importantly, Garza will try and break the string of rough outings for Rays pitchers in Arlington. Over the past eight games in Texas, Tampa Bay’s starters have gone 0-7 with a 9.39 ERA, allowing 40 earned runs in 38 1/3 innings.
The offense hasn’t done much better in Arlington over that eight-game stretch, getting outscored by the Rangers 64-27.
On Saturday, the Rays managed only one run against Rangers starter Tommy Hunter, who was making his season debut. The lone run came on Sean Rodriguez’s solo shot in the second inning.