Rangers at Dodgers
On May 3, the Texas Rangers fell a season-worst eight games below .500 with a home loss to Oakland. The Rangers, who are a league-best 28-14 since that setback, look to collect their 21st win in 28 contests Thursday when they attempt to complete a four-game, home-and-home sweep against the host Los Angeles Dodgers.
Texas (36-30) improved to 16-7 on the road over that 42-game span Wednesday, getting the best of reigning National League MVP and Dallas
native Clayton Kershaw in a 5-3 victory. Designated hitter Prince
Fielder, who leads the AL with a .344 batting average and was supposed
to get the night off, made his 11th start at first base and recorded his
league-high 28th multi-hit effort — including a ninth-inning solo shot
to end a 17-game homer drought. The Dodgers, who went 2-for-12 with
runners in scoring position Wednesday and are 4-for-29 in those
situations while dropping four of their last five, have averaged 2.4
runs during their recent funk. Los Angeles will look to avoid
back-to-back losses at home for only the third time this season and may
catch a break in that regard Thursday as Anthony Ranaudo takes the
big-league mound for the first time since getting pounded for six runs
in 1 2/3 innings against the Los Angeles Angels on April 15.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Southwest (Texas), SportsNet LA (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Anthony Ranaudo (0-1, 32.40 ERA) vs. Dodgers RH Zack Greinke (5-2, 1.95)
In
an effort to give their starters another day of rest, the Rangers are
expected to recall Ranaudo from Triple-A Round Rock for his second
major-league start of the season. The 25-year-old New Jersey native, who
went 4-3 with a 4.81 ERA over seven late-season outings with Boston
last year, is 7-1 with a 2.85 ERA in 11 minor-league turns in 2015.
Ranaudo went 1-1, 5.40 in interleague play last year after making his
big-league debut Aug. 1.
Greinke has yielded two runs or fewer
six times in his last seven starts, but fell to 0-2 over that span
despite allowing two runs on eight hits while fanning seven during a
hard-luck complete-game 2-1 loss at San Diego on Saturday. The 2009 AL
Cy Young Award winner has been the victim of poor run support in most of
those outings as the Dodgers have scored two or fewer runs in five of
his last six turns. Greinke, who hasn’t opposed the Rangers since 2012,
is 3-5 with a 2.84 ERA in 14 appearances (12 starts) versus Texas.
WALK-OFFS
1. Texas is 61-38 in interleague play since the
beginning of the 2010 season, with the resulting .616 winning percentage
serving as the best mark by an AL team in that stretch.
2. Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez is 1-for-13 in this series and batting .208 in his last 19 games.
3. Fielder played Wednesday in place of 1B Kyle Blanks, who sat due to inflammation in both Achilles tendons.