Angels at Rangers
Texas will host its first baseball game since Hurricane Harvey caused unprecedented and catastrophic flooding in the southeastern portion of the state. The Texas Rangers return from splitting a 10-game road trip to provide the honors on Friday, when they open a three-game series against the American League West-rival Los Angeles Angels.
Shin-Soo Choo extended his hitting and run-scoring streaks to five contests on Thursday afternoon in a 5-1 setback against Houston at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. The 35-year-old South Korean is 8-for-24 with two homers, five RBIs and eight runs scored during that stretch and went 7-for-17 as Texas won three of four from Los Angeles on Aug. 21-24. While the Rangers trail Minnesota by four games for the second wild-card spot in the AL, the Angels find themselves 1 1/2 behind the Twins after erupting for 21 runs in a sweep of Oakland earlier this week to split their 10-game homestand. Los Angeles did its best to improve its club without taking the field on Thursday as it provided some offensive support for Mike Trout by acquiring All-Star outfielder Justin Upton from Detroit and second baseman Brandon Phillips from Atlanta.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, FSN West (Los Angeles), FSN Southwest Plus (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Angels LH Tyler Skaggs (1-4, 4.25 ERA) vs. Rangers LH Cole Hamels (9-2, 3.78)
Skaggs saw his winless streak reach six outings on Saturday as he allowed five runs for the second straight trip to the mound in a no-decision versus Houston. The 26-year-old owns an 0-3 record and 4.56 ERA in his last five starts (25 2/3 innings) and fell to 2-2 with a 5.66 ERA in seven career appearances against Texas after permitting five runs in 5 1/3 innings of a 5-3 setback on Aug. 21. Choo is 5-for-7 and Elvis Andrus is 6-for-14 versus Skaggs, who has kept Rougned Odor (0-for-10) and Carlos Gomez (0-for-6, five strikeouts) under wraps.
Hamels enjoyed a 5-0 stretch over his previous six starts before getting shredded on Saturday for six runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings of an 8-3 setback at Oakland. The 33-year-old looks to return to his winning ways versus Los Angeles, against which he posted dominant outings on July 7 and Aug. 21 to improve to 4-1 with a 2.47 ERA in eight career turns. Hamels has handcuffed Trout (2-for-15, six strikeouts), Andrelton Simmons (4-for-30) and Kole Calhoun (3-for-21, 10 strikeouts) in his career.
WALK-OFFS
1. Los Angeles DH Albert Pujols recorded a hit in all four games of his team's recent series against Texas, registering a homer and four RBIs.
2. Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre is expected to have an MRI on Friday after straining his left hamstring while fielding a ground ball in the seventh inning of the series finale versus Houston.
3. Angels LF Ben Revere is riding a five-game hitting streak into the series but is just 4-for-20 this season against Texas, which acquired RHP Miguel Gonzalez from the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.