Texas @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 19, 2010 ) Texas 5, Houston 1
The Texas Rangers have won seven consecutive games on the road, the franchise’s longest winning streak on a single road trip.
The Rangers will try to polish off the trip with win No. 8 in the series finale against the Houston Astros on Sunday afternoon. Texas sends left-hander C.J. Wilson to the mound while Houston counters with right-hander Felipe Paulino.
Wilson has given the Rangers a chance to win in every game he has started. On Tuesday, he helped the team to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Marlins, going six innings and allowing two runs on two hits with a season-high six walks and six strikeouts.
Wilson is currently on a two-game winning streak despite going 2-2 with a 6.35 ERA in his last six starts. In 10 lifetime relief appearances against the Astros, Wilson is 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA and two saves.
Moved into the rotation this season, Wilson is still searching for his first interleague victory, as well as his first career big league hit. Wilson starred as an outfielder in college, but had two groundouts in his first two major league at-bats against Marlins starter Josh Johnson on Tuesday.
Offensively, Justin Smoak has come along for the Rangers of late. He homered for the second consecutive night on Saturday and finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBIs. On Friday, he went 2-for-5 with four RBIs.
Michael Young added a solo home run and Vladimir Guerrero had an RBI single for Texas.
The Astros, meanwhile, are looking for Paulino, who started the season 0-7, to rebound from his poor start against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday. He gave up seven runs in the fifth inning and lasted only 4 2/3 innings, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits.
Prior to that outing, Paulino was pitching well. He went eight innings in his three previous starts, allowing two or fewer runs in each game. But, Paulino picked up just one victory over that stretch.
Paulino has faced the Rangers once in his young career, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
The offense still hasn’t come through and it seems like it can’t catch a break. Houston happened to face Texas starter Colby Lewis on one of his best nights of the season Saturday. The Astros managed only two hits against Lewis, a double from Michael Bourn and a single from Hunter Pence.