Chicago @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 2, 2010 ) Chi. White Sox 5, Texas 3
The Texas Rangers used the ninth overall pick in the 2003 draft to select a big, left-handed pitcher from the Lone Star State named John Danks.
For the next several years, every Texas fan waited for the day that Danks would start at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
That day eventually came in 2007, except that Danks wasn’t wearing a Texas uniform. Instead, he was in a Chicago White Sox uniform after being sent to the club in a five-player trade that landed the Rangers right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who is currently with Texas’ Triple A team.
Danks is back in Texas and will make his fourth career start in Arlington on Saturday as he takes the mound for the White Sox against the Rangers. Texas will counter with right-hander Tommy Hunter.
In his first three career starts at Rangers Ballpark, Danks is 1-2 with a 5.30 ERA. In five career starts against the Rangers, he is 1-2 with a 4.38 ERA.
This season, though, Danks has developed into a middle-of-the-rotation starter.
In his last start against the Chicago Cubs, Danks went five innings and allowed six runs and seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. In his three previous starts, Danks went at least seven innings in each game and allowed three runs or less.
Offensively, the White Sox rallied for a 5-3 victory on Friday night in a game that ended early Saturday morning after a 2-hour, 25-minute rain delay. Trailing 3-1, Chicago scored two runs in the seventh and Mark Kotsay delivered what proved to be a game-winning two-run double in the ninth.
The Rangers, meanwhile, will hope Hunter has a solid start in his first career game against the White Sox. In his last start against the Houston Astros on Sunday, Hunter outpitched Roy Oswalt, allowing one run and five hits in six innings as the Rangers raced to a 10-1 victory.
Hunter, who started the season on the disabled list with a left oblique strain, has won four of his five starts since joining the Rangers rotation on June 5, including posting four quality starts.
Offensively, the Rangers received solid production, yet again, from Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero on Friday.
Hamilton launched a solo home run to right-center in the sixth inning to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. It was Hamilton’s 19th homer of the year, as he continues to build off his remarkable June.
Guerrero came through early in the game with a two-run triple. Yes, the 35-year-old slugger who had knee surgery after the 2008 season legged out a triple to help the Rangers gain a 2-1 lead at the time.
It was Guerrero’s first triple since June 10, 2009.