Rangers at Diamondbacks
The Texas Rangers may be sitting in last place and fielding phone calls as sellers in advance of Tuesday's trade deadline, but that doesn't mean they're giving up. The Rangers will try to throw a wrench into another division race when they visit the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a two-game interleague series on Monday.
Texas already dealt Cole Hamels and figures to continue to be active over the next two days but also just completed a three-game sweep of the American League West-leading Houston Astros. "When you're facing those guys, that is an exceptional team, their win-loss tells it all," Rangers manager Jeff Banister told reporters of the Astros. "Championship tells a lot. However, I was proud of our guys. We talked about grinding out at-bats. Don't worry about results early. Grind through the at-bats, put as many pitches on the pitcher as you possibly can. Get (an) opportunity to drive in the run, put together the at-bat that allows you to keep the ball in the middle of the field and allow those runs to score." The Diamondbacks enter the week a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West and are rolling with wins in three straight and six of eight. Arizona will try to make it four straight wins behind Robbie Ray while Texas counters with fellow left-hander Martin Perez.
TV: 9:40 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Texas), FS Arizona
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH Martin Perez (2-4, 7.08 ERA) vs. Diamondbacks LH Robbie Ray (3-2, 4.90)
Perez is trying to develop some consistency and sandwiched two strong starts around a poor outing in three turns since rejoining the rotation. The Venezuela native was ripped for six runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings against Cleveland on July 20 but bounced back to limit Oakland to one run over six frames in a no-decision on Wednesday. Perez is making his second career start against Arizona and is 6-6 with a 4.03 ERA in 18 interleague outings.
Ray is looking for his first win in July and was held out of the decision at the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday despite scattering one run and four hits over seven strong innings. That marked the first quality start of the month for the 26-year-old, who failed to complete six innings in any of his first four July turns. Ray is 1-1 with a 5.73 ERA in two career starts against Texas and 3-6 with a 4.76 mark in 13 total interleague turns.
WALK-OFFS
1. Diamondbacks OF David Peralta (right shoulder tightness) left Sunday's game and is day-to-day.
2. Rangers OF/DH Shin-Soo Choo went 0-for-9 with five strikeouts in the last two games.
3. Texas 3B/OF Joey Gallo is up to majors-high 142 strikeouts in 101 games.