ARLINGTON, Texas — After opening the 2024 season against the Chicago Cubs, another National League Central squad arrives for an April series in Arlington. The third-place Cincinnati Reds are next to venture into the den of the defending champs.
The Rangers took the Opening Series from the Cubs, who currently sit in second place ahead of these Reds – incidentally, Texas themselves are also in second place after losing a series to the Seattle Mariners to kick off this homestand.
Cincinnati hasn’t played in Arlington since the 2016 season, the last season that the Rangers won the American League West and this trip marks a whole move across the street from Park to Field since last they saw the Reds.
The teams, obviously, look much different now eight years later. Michael Lorenzen – scheduled to start for the Rangers on Saturday – was a reliever in 35 games for the Reds that season, and back then, Cincinnati didn’t even know it would one day have one of the most exciting players in the game, with shortstop Elly De La Cruz one of the game’s rising stars.
Cincinnati Reds (14-11, 3rd Place NL Central) @ Texas Rangers (13-13, 2nd Place AL West)
Previously, for Cincinnati…
The Reds are in third place, but not because they’re playing like a third-place team. Cincinnati is three games above .500 and has a plus 19 run differential, good for sixth-best in the NL. But unfortunately for them, the Brewers and the Cubs have been playing better thus far as is reflected in the standings with Cincinnati trailing Milwaukee by 2.5 games and Chicago by half a game.
The Reds are outscoring their opponents so far 127-103, have a winning record at home, where they’ve played most of their games so far and have won five of their last seven contests. The Reds are accomplishing their early success despite an offense that has been carried mostly by two players. The aforementioned de la Cruz is slashing .313/.412/.651 in his sophomore
campaign, and outfielder Spencer Steer is slashing .267/.379/.465, with both accounting for 39 of the team’s runs this year. Much of the rest of the regular lineup is not yet producing which has prevented the Reds from sustaining much momentum.
Prior to this stretch of six games, where they swept the Angels and split a four-game series with Philadelphia, Cincinnati was swept by the Mariners in rather convincing fashion. The Reds allowed 17 runs in Seattle and only scored five against them. The Reds have also been able to beat up the White Sox, Mets, and Nationals. So while it seems like they’ve fattened up on lesser opponents, they’ve also gone 4-3 against the Phillies, who had won seven in a row before the series split at Great American Ball Park.
But the real story for the Reds this season, and likely many future seasons to come, has been the early breakout for De La Cruz. In just under a full season’s worth of games, the tall, lanky switch hitter has made highlight reels with his combination of speed and power. In his first year with the club last year, De La Cruz slugged over .400, mashing 13 homers and 15 doubles in his 98 games in the Majors, while also swiping 35 bags.
This season, after just 25 games, the 22-year-old has already stolen 15 bags and is well on his way to outpace last year’s totals across the board. Most recently, in a game against the Angels, De La Cruz stole three bases while also crushing a three-run homer. This series will be the first time that Rangers will get a look at De La Cruz and they get the opportunity right as the electric youngster reaches the cusp of superstardom.
What to watch for
- Game 27, 7:05 PM CT - RHP Graham Ashcraft (3-1, 5.24 ERA) vs RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 3.30 ERA)
- Game 28, 3:05 PM CT - RHP Hunter Greene (0-2, 4.55 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-0, 2.45 ERA)
- Game 29, 1:35 PM CT - LHP Andrew Abbott (1-2, 2.60 ERA) vs. RHP Dane Dunning (2-2, 4.61 ERA)
Texas has its big guns locked and loaded for this series; against a light-hitting Cincinnati lineup, this would be a great time for the whole team to get on track, but they can’t fall into the same trap that they did when they ignominiously dropped a home series to Oakland earlier this month.
Nathan Eovaldi gets the nod in the opener for Texas looking to rebound after two uncharacteristically subpar outings. Against Houson two weeks ago, the Texas native gave up five runs in six frames of work, and last time out, against the Braves, he only lasted 5 ⅓ innings while allowing three runs, both Rangers losses.
Michael Lorenzen is putting his perfect 2-0 record on the line against his former team, having pitched well for Texas and giving them opportunities to win in his first two starts after arriving mid-month following signing late in the spring.
Dane Dunning, meanwhile, would do well to limit the walks and home run balls. He’ll have the opportunity to do that in his outing in the finale. An uptick in home runs was perhaps expected after he was able to suppress the longball at a career rate last season, but the walks are something that appears to be part of the growing pains of trying to strike out more hitters by making changes to his delivery.
The Reds will start the series with Graham Ashcraft, who gave up five runs on five hits against Los Angeles last Saturday. It was a game that Ashcraft and Cincinnati would go on to win, but giving up a run per inning in a five-inning stint isn’t ideal.
Hunter Greene will follow in the Saturday afternoon contest. The former second overall pick in the 2017 MLB draft last gave the Reds seven innings in a game that followed two heavy-bullpen days. He did give up four runs in the start, but there’s a toughness there that the Reds believe can push him to be a topline starter.
Andrew Abbott will close out the series for Cincinnati on Sunday. The Cincinnati lefty has been pitching decently this month, but he’s walked seven in his last two starts and failed to make it out of the fifth inning in his last outing despite only throwing 79 pitches in an eventual win over the Phillies.
Last year, the Reds swept the Rangers at Great American Ballpark early in the season in a series that was notable for being the first eye-opening experience of what was to be a very heavily scrutinized bullpen. Each game of the series featured a different blown save and two games were walked-off by the Reds.
This year’s version of the Rangers’ bullpen hasn’t shown to be extremely predisposed to having a hard time holding close leads. Now it’s up to the Rangers’ offense to start clicking after a bit of a dry spell at home and create some opportunities for the bullpen to hold some leads.
Do you think the Rangers will score a series win over De La Cruz and the Reds? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.