When surging Texas goes for a three-game sweep of the visiting Chicago White Sox on Sunday at Globe Life Park in Arlington Authentic Sebastian Janikowski Jersey , Texas, Cole Hamels, the pitcher the Rangers expected to be their bell cow in this season of rebuilding, will be on the mound.
It remains to be seen how much longer Hamels (4-6, with a 3.61 ERA) stays in that position. He could, instead, be a huge piece to the puzzle in a trade that would net more prospects for a team in dire need of them.
The White Sox will send right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (3-5, 3.73 ERA) to the mound in the series finale.
The Rangers beat Chicago 13-4 on Saturday behind five solid innings from the ageless Bartolo Colon, a three-run double from Robinson Chirinos, a home run from Joey Gallo and a seven-run eighth inning.
Texas was without designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo on Saturday as he battles right quad soreness and was given the night off.
Choo said his upper quad has been bothering him over the past 10 days, but he’s played through it well enough to extend his streak of reaching base to 41 straight games, tops in the Major Leagues this season. It’s also tied with Toby Harrah (1985) for the third-longest single-season streak in club history.
“I felt like it was an opportunity to get him off his legs, give him a day,” manager Jeff Banister told mlb.com about Choo’s absence from the starting lineup. “He’s played through it for a while.”
Choo underwent an MRI at his own request on Saturday and said afterward he does not believe the injury is serious.
“I know I have the streak going on, but my body and staying healthy is more important,” Choo said. “And winning games is more important than records. I don’t want to make it worse. I don’t think it’s serious.”
Chicago is another team building from the ground up but already has its second baseman of the future, Yoan Moncada, on the field as an everyday player. Moncada, who was acquired from Boston as part of the trade that sent Chris Sale to the Red Sox, has struggled through the first half of the season, hitting just .225 after batting .231 in 54 games last season.
He also has a team-high 13 errors at second base.
“I did not expect to have as many tough, difficult moments as I’ve been having,” Moncada told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ve learned that this is a process, it’s something young guys have to get used to. You can’t get frustrated at any point. If you keep your faith in what you do, you’re going to be good.”
Lopez will make his 17th start of the season Authentic Byron Maxwell Jersey , 10th on the road and second against the Rangers this season when he takes the hill on Sunday. He is 1-1 with a 2.55 ERA over his past three road starts. His last time out, on June 26, Lopez earned the win versus Minnesota, allowing four runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings in an 8-4 Chi-Sox victory.
Lopez is receiving a 3.45 run support average this season, the ninth-lowest in the AL. He will be making his third career start against the Rangers and second at Globe Life Park.
Lopez garnered the win in his last start against Texas on May 20 in Chicago, pitching eight scoreless innings.
Hamels will also make his 17th start of the season and leads all Texas starters in ERA (3.61), starts (16), innings (97 1/3), and strikeouts (97). He has gone 3-2 with a 3.28 ERA in his nine starts since May 5 to lower his ERA from 4.08 to 3.61.
Hamels will be working on five days’ rest and last worked and took a no-decision in the Rangers’ 7-4 win on Monday at home against San Diego. He allowed a season-high nine hits in that game, exiting after trailing 4-1 in the sixth, ending a streak of eight straight starts six-plus or more innings pitched.
Hamels has gone 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA in four career starts against the White Sox, recording quality starts in three of those four outings.
BOSTON — The last time the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels met, both teams were hot and the three-game series in Anaheim was to provide some sort of early excitement to the long and winding baseball season.
The Red Sox, who came in 13-2 against the 13-3 Angels, not only won all three games but did it by a combined count of 27-3.
“Give those guys credit. They had a great series,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after the finale, and after the Red Sox beat up on Shohei Ohtani.
David Price, who won the opener of that series, faces the Angels and emergency starter John Lamb on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park.
With six starting pitchers on the disabled list, the Angels were able to get Ricky Skaggs back after the right-hander missed a game with a tight hamstring, but he had to pitch Monday’s makeup game at Kansas City. That left Lamb, a left-hander with a 2-12 lifetime record and 6.12 ERA, to make his second start in the opener of the series against Boston.
Missing Skaggs meant the Red Sox were able to avoid a pitcher who had won three straight starts with an 0.45 ERA (he lost 2-0 on Monday). Now, losers of 10 of its last 14, Boston gets Lamb Authentic Ed Dickson Jersey , who allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings replacing Skaggs last week.
The Red Sox are coming off a series win over the Seattle Mariners, finishing off a 4-3 two-weekend win over the AL West contenders. They rode a 13-strikeout effort from Chris Sale to a win in the rubber game Sunday.
“I’m glad that he’s on my team and I don’t have to face him,” Boston’s Mitch Moreland said of Sale (7-4). “He’s filthy and showed it again today.”
The matchup at Fenway renews the “best player in baseball” talk, with Red Sox fans pushing Mookie Betts over Mike Trout.
While Betts spent time on the disabled list with an abdominal strain and missed a weekend game with illness, Trout has DHd the last six games because of a sprained right index finger.
“After a week, he was going to throw and evaluate it,” Scioscia said Monday. “We’re kind of there now. We’ll see. He’s not going to play center field (Tuesday). It’s how he progresses when he starts to throw.”
Amazingly, Trout is a .371 hitter in 16 lifetime games at Fenway, but he has never hit a home run in the old ballpark. He has driven in 11 runs and stolen six bases.
Price had a six-game (seven-start) winning streak snapped his last time out, at Minnesota, but allowed just three runs in six innings and could have won with some support.
Price is just 6-7 with a 3.45 ERA lifetime against the Angels.
The current LA roster doesn’t have much to brag about against the lefty. Albert Pujols is 10-for-31 (.323) with two homers and five RBIs, but Chris Young is 1-for-14 (.072), Luis Valbuena 1-for-8 (.125), Ian Kinsler 5-for-29 (.172) with a homer, and Trout 4-for-23 (.174) with 11 strikeouts.
Lamb, with the Cincinnati Reds the past two seasons, has never faced the Red Sox.
The Monday makeup allowed the Angels and Royals to celebrate the postponed April 15 Jackie Robinson Day, so all players on both teams wore No. 42 Monday.
“We’re all obviously very proud to do it,” Scioscia said before the game. “I think it’s cool. We missed it (on April 15) and the guys had been looking forward to it. They were like, ‘Oh, man.’ It’s kind of nice because we’re the only two teams doing it today. We’re happy about that, for sure.”