ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers hit the road eyeing a third consecutive series win after a successful 5-4 homestand that saw them fall out of first place but also rebound from a grueling stretch that concluded the month of April.
This next road trip kicks off in Kansas City, with stops in Oakland and Colorado that will also include a built-in doubleheader against the A’s next week. Before that scheduling quirk, the first leg against the Kansas City Royals features a team coming off an incredibly hot month of April – record-breaking, actually. They also might get to show off the present the Rangers gave them last season – their found money ace, Cole Ragans.
Texas Rangers (17-15, 2nd Place AL West, 0.5 GB) @ Kansas City Royals (19-13, 2nd Place AL Central, 1.5 GB)
Previously, for Kansas City…
The Royals finished the month of April with a franchise-record 17 wins. The month ended in the middle of their three-game set with the Toronto Blue Jays in Canada, a series they would end up winning. That concluded a stretch of 13 games in 13 days and they will be returning home for a six-game homestand after a day off on Thursday.
The Royals, who lost 106 games last year, are using their mix of young, up-and-comers and savvy, playoff-experienced veterans to keep them just a step behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians.
Their youthful core, featuring players like Vinnie Pasquantino, MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel, and the electric Bobby Witt, Jr. and pitchers James McArthur, Tyler Duffey and the aforementioned Ragans, play hard, with manager Matt Quatraro getting the most out of his players thus far.
Royals management has surrounded the youngsters with a select group of veterans, names like Hunter Renfroe, Adam Frazier, and franchise cornerstone catcher Salvador Perez, to go with free agent pitchers like Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, and former Rangers relievers Will Smith and Chris Stratton.
The combination has resulted in a team with a top-10 pitching staff (2nd in the AL in ERA) and an offense that has its share of ups and downs, but has found ways to pick its pitchers up and provide enough to win games, especially with Witt starting to blossom into one of the league’s best players.
What to watch for…
Game 33, 6:40 PM CT: RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-1, 4.24 ERA) vs. RHP Brady Singer (2-1, 2.62 ERA)
Game 34, 6:10 PM CT: RHP Dane Dunning (3-2, 4.13 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Wacha (1-3, 4.24 ERA)
Game 35, 1:10 PM CT: RHP Jon Gray (1-1, 2.48 ERA) vs. TBD
As always, Texas continues to need length out of the starters. Jon Gray and Andrew Heaney gave the Rangers eight and seven strong innings respectively in their last outings – a boon for a team with many starters on the injured list. The need is especially true since staff ace Nathan Eovaldi exited the homestand finale with a right groin injury that could leave Texas thin to start another road trip.
Manager Bruce Bochy has a decent amount of bullets to fire, but he does need to be wary of the coming scheduled doubleheader in Oakland on Wednesday, which already was going to require a call up or spot start from long relief.
Last time out, Lorenzen was able to throw six innings against the Reds, but also got touched up for five runs and his first loss of the season. Dunning was able to give Texas 5 ⅓ innings against Cincinnati, giving up two runs, but also struck out 10 Reds, a trend that has been ever-more developing as of late, and he did so on an extremely economical 69 pitches.
Kansas City will send Brady Singer and Michael Wacha to the hill against Texas before making a decision about the finale. That would be Cole Ragans’ day to pitch. It would also be the first time that Texas would get a look at their former first-round prospect, who was traded to Kansas City in the Aroldis Chapman deal last June.
The reason Ragans isn’t inked into a match against his former team is because he exited his last start after 105 pitches with a leg cramp. The issue was considered non-serious by the team and Ragans, but Sunday’s finale still holds the “TBD” designation as a placeholder for Ragans as the team figures out how he feels.
Regardless, Ragans has earned the “ace” title, sporting a 2-2 record and a 3.44 ERA. That figure is weighed down by his one clunker of an outing, a start against the Orioles, in which he gave up seven earned runs. Otherwise, he has not allowed more than three runs in any of his other starts to begin the year after his meteoric rise as a starter after joining Kansas City last summer.
Brady Singer allowed just one run over five hard-fought innings in his last start, but the Detroit Tigers wound up with the win, scoring five off Stratton. Veteran Wacha had a rough time of it against the Tigers, going just 5 ⅔ innings and giving up four runs on nine hits while needing 91 pitches to wade through the outing.
The Royals are a very good defensive team and their relievers overall can shut a team down. Texas, who has a slightly better winning percentage on the road so far, at .538, might be tasked with honing in on some of that playoff “Road Magic” to get them through KC.
Do you think the Rangers will come away with a third consecutive series win? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
