Angels at Rangers
No matter how things are going for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,
they always can look forward to their visits to Texas. The Angels look
to make it two straight against the Rangers and continue their recent
dominance in the series when the teams play the second of their three games
at Arlington on Tuesday.
With Monday's 6-3 win in the series opener, Los Angeles - which dropped three straight to Kansas City at home over the weekend - has taken 14 of the last 17 overall meetings and 10 of the last 11 in Texas. Collin Cowgill and David Freese recorded two RBIs apiece to back a solid start by Matt Shoemaker - who gave up three runs and struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings - as the Angels improved to 3-1 on the road. Prince Fielder went 2-for-4 with an RBI to raise his average to .394 for the Rangers, but his teammates are batting .172 on the season. Texas will try to get something going Tuesday against Los Angeles' Drew Rucinski, who is making his first start in the majors.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, FSN West (Los Angeles), FSN Southwest (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Angels RH Drew Rucinski (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Nick Martinez (1-0, 0.00)
Rucinski posted a 4.91 ERA in three relief outings for the Angels last year and tossed two scoreless frames out of the bullpen Saturday against the Royals. After being released by Cleveland in 2011, he pitched in the Independent League before joining the Angels organization in 2013 but never has made a start above the Double-A level. The 26-year-old went 10-6 with a 3.16 ERA in 26 starts for Double-A Arkansas in 2014.
After a solid finish to his rookie campaign last year, Martinez opened the season in fine fashion with seven scoreless frames in a rout of Oakland on Thursday. He yielded only four hits and has let up just 20 in 31 innings over his last five starts dating to last season. The start of that run was a six-inning outing at home against the Angels, whom he limited to two earned runs - leaving Martinez with a 3.32 ERA in four games (three starts) versus the division rival.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cowgill is 16-for-37 against Texas since the start of last season.
2. Angels CF Mike Trout and 1B Albert Pujols are a combined 0-for-12 against Martinez.
3. Los Angeles RH Garrett Richards, sidelined following knee surgery, is scheduled to make a rehab start with Triple-A Salt Lake on Tuesday.