Baltimore @ Texas preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 21, 2013 ) Baltimore 4, Texas 2

The Texas Rangers will get a chance to see the one that got away when they host Nelson Cruz and the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game series. Cruz spurned the Rangers' one-year qualifying offer of $14.1 million in the offseason and wound up settling for a one-year deal worth $8 million from the Orioles when no team would offer him a multiyear deal. Cruz has been the league's best bargain, leading the majors in homers and RBIs through the weekend.

Texas, which is returning home from a 7-4 road trip, may not have to face Cruz in the series opener after the slugger was hit by a pitch on the left hand and had to leave Sunday's win at Houston. Cruz will be re-evaluated Tuesday but manager Buck Showalter expects him in the lineup for Baltimore, which is wrapping up a 10-game trek. "If I know Nelson, he's going to want to play on Tuesday," Showalter said. "It's got nothing to do with who we're playing. He just likes to be there."

TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, MASN2 (Baltimore), FSN Southwest (Texas)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6, 4.65 ERA) vs. Rangers LH Joe Saunders (0-1, 4.15)

Jimenez bounced back from consecutive rocky outings by limiting Houston to one run and three hits over six innings on Thursday. Jimenez will pitch on his regular rest after scheduled starter Bud Norris was pushed back to pitch in Wednesday's middle game of the series. Jimenez owns a 3-2 mark and 3.03 ERA in six career outings versus Texas, including eight scoreless innings of two-hit ball last July as a member of the Cleveland Indians.

Saunders will make his third start of the season and second since missing returning from the 15-day disabled list with a fractured ankle that sidelined him for nearly eight weeks. The well-traveled veteran, who spent part of the 2012 season with Baltimore, blanked Minnesota on five hits over five innings last time out. Saunders has never lost to the Orioles in nine career starts, posting a 7-0 mark and 4.09 ERA.

WALK-OFFS

1. Cruz, who has 20 homers and 52 RBIs, took over the lead from Boston's David Ortiz at DH in the latest round of All-Star Game balloting.

2. Saunders has never fared well in Texas, registering a 1-7 record with a a bloated 8.58 ERA.

3. The Orioles have won the past five meetings, including a three-game sweep in Arlington last July.

PREDICTION: Rangers 4, Orioles 3