ARLINGTON, Texas — Facing the Chicago White Sox, a team that has clearly signaled and played like they are out of contention, is one thing. The Texas Rangers (63-46, 1st Place AL West) made quick work of the Southsiders in a sweep to open August.
But with the Miami Marlins (58-52, 3rd Place NL East) in Arlington, a team that took on the role of buyers and are fighting hard for one of three National League wild card spots, Texas finds itself facing a much tougher challenge.
Confidence resides on the Rangers’ side; Corey Seager returned from the IL in the Chicago series and three of the four new acquisitions made their debut and performed quite well. One remains to make his debut, and he’ll do it on Friday night, against a Miami team fighting for a playoff spot.
At the deadline
Miami, only a game out of a wild card spot in the NL, decided that they would capitalize on that margin and make a push to play past 162. The wild card race is far tighter than the NL East race, where the Atlanta Braves have a commanding 11.5 game lead on the Philadelphia Phillies and 13.0 games on the Marlins. Immediately ahead of the Marlins in the NL Wild Card race are the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds, both tied for that last spot as they duke it out for the NL Central crown. Suffice to say, Miami has more than a fighting chance to get into the playoffs.
To that end, the Marlins’ general manager Kim Ng made more than a handful of moves to positively impact Miami’s bullpen and lineup. Firstly, and perhaps most impactful, was the move that served as the catalyst for Max Scherzer coming to Texas – the New York Mets traded closer David Robertson to Miami for a couple of org top-25 prospects.
Robertson had saved 14 of 17 attempts for the Mets, and when New York traded him away, Scherzer took his concerns about the team’s direction to management. Ng also acquired Twins’ right hander Jorge Lopez and Jose Castillo from San Diego as bullpen depth. The Marlins bullpen, like so many around the league, has struggled mightily since the All-Star break, prompting the moves to bolster the relief corps. Robertson, it should be noted, blew his second save chance in the recently completed Phillies series, wasting a gem from ace Sandy Alcantara.
Offensively, the Marlins acquired Josh Bell from the Guardians and Jake Burger from the White Sox. Burger was Miami’s big get, as they traded away their No. 4 prospect, lefty Jake Eder, to acquire the right-handed infielder from the Sox. Burger, who doesn’t hit much for average, provides some power and the ability to drive in runs that the Marlins have been missing.
Miami has hit the third-fewest home runs in the big leagues at just 100 and are tied for sixth-fewest runs scored with 450. Burger helps to provide some of that pop and help unclog some of the traffic that the Marlins manage to put on the basepaths. Bell, a former All-Star first baseman, provides some extra-base ability from both sides of the plate as a switch-hitter. The Irving, Texas, native enjoyed a four-hit night in his Miami debut on Wednesday.
The Marlins have not been a very good club offensively and their pitching, both in the rotation and the bullpen, have been middle of the pack. Still, the acquisitions made by Ng should provide a shot of confidence to a team that has needed help for weeks. Miami comes to Texas in the middle of a 13-game stretch and just lost three of four to the Phillies, with the only win coming in a grueling 12-inning affair on Wednesday in which they used some extra arms.
The matchups
- Game 110: 7:05 PM CT - LHP Jesus Luzardo (8-5, 3.38 ERA) vs. LHP Jordan Montgomery (6-9, 3.42 ERA)
- Game 111: 3:05 PM CT - TBD vs. RHP Jon Gray (6-5, 3.66 ERA)
- Game 112: 1:35 PM CT - RHP Sandy Alcantara (4-9, 4.21 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Heaney (8-6, 4.36 ERA)
Texas has chosen the opening game of this series against the Marlins for left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery to make his Rangers debut. Montgomery, acquired with reliever Chris Stratton from the St. Louis Cardinals at the deadline, is a pitcher that Texas hopes will give them depth in starts and quality innings.
The Texas rotation as it stood was looking a little rough for wear. Elevated ace Nathan Eovaldi just went on the IL, Jon Gray and Dane Dunning have been showing signs summer tiring them out, and Andrew Heaney, in spite of an 11-strikeout gem last time out, hasn’t been consistent in his starts for weeks.
Martin Perez, who had not pitched well in two and a half months, has been moved to the bullpen for the time being. It is on Montgomery, the second starter acquired behind Scherzer, to provide some good innings and keep the Rangers in games. Despite back-to-back bad outings against the surging Chicago Cubs, Montgomery has been excellent over the last two months. Overall, he’s pitching to a 3.42 ERA in 121 innings with 108 strikeouts and a 1.250 WHIP. Opponents are hitting just .250 off of him, and his familiarity with Rangers’ pitching coach Mike Maddux will serve him well as Texas pushes for a division title.
Opposing Montgomery on Friday will be lefty Jesus Luzardo. Luzardo, who hits a new career-high in innings pitched with each outing, has been great for the Marlins. In 22 starts, the former Oakland A’s hurler has a 3.38 ERA with 147 strikeouts and a fantastic 4.20 K/BB ratio.
He is coming off of one of his worst starts in a month and half, as he gave up four runs in 4 ⅔ innings to the Detroit Tigers, walking three and allowing seven hits. The start before that, however, was a seven-inning, one-run, thirteen-strikeout gem against the Rockies. The strikeout artist that Luzardo has become presents a problem for a swing-happy, aggressive Rangers lineup.
The Marlins do not have a starter listed for Saturday’s game, likely a product of the 12-inning game against the Phillies on Wednesday, in which they used eight pitchers. The scheduled starter, Edward Cabrera, only went three innings in his last outing and was optioned out to Triple-A.
The Rangers, meanwhile, will send Jon Gray to the mound on Saturday, needing the righty to find the quality pitches and avoid bats like he did earlier in the year, when he was the Rangers second-best pitcher behind Eovaldi. Ever since a complete game 1-0 loss on June 7th against the Cardinals, the 31-year-old has not had consistently good outings. Since the All-Star break, a period encompassing seven starts and 34 ⅔ innings pitched, Gray has a 6.49 ERA with opponents hitting .326 against him. This would be a good start for Gray to get back on track, against a Marlins team that doesn’t score a lot.
Sunday sees Sandy Alcantara, fresh off back-to-back stellar outings, face off against Andrew Heaney, who is coming off of one of his best performances of the year to date. The 2022 NL Cy Young winner Alcantara pitched eight scoreless innings against the Phillies in a game Miami ultimately lost. The time before that, the 27-year-old righty pitched a one-run complete game against the Tampa Bay Rays. It would appear that Alcantara is hitting his stride just as the Marlins get to Arlington after he struggled early in the season.
Heaney, however, has a chance to show Texas that the decision to keep him in the rotation was the correct call and that his outing against the White Sox wasn’t a fluke. In the opener against Chicago on Tuesday, Heaney went six innings on 80 pitches and struck out 11 to earn his eighth win. With the Rangers acquiring Montgomery and Scherzer, and with Eovaldi on his way back at some point in the next week and a half, Heaney has to keep passing the test to keep his spot.
Lost in all the talk of trade deadline acquisitions is the fact that one of the best hitters in the league, Luis Arraez, will be here for this series. Arraez’s chase for .400 has tailed off only slightly – Arraez hasn’t seen .400 since mid-June, but he comes into Texas hitting .378 and riding a seven-game hitting streak. He has been the most prolific Marlins hitter this season and been one of the key factors for them being in the playoff hunt. It is assured that Arraez is going to be one of the bats to look out for all throughout this series in Texas.
With Houston playing a four-game series against an AL East cellar-dwelling New York Yankees team that made little noise at the trade deadline, it’s important that the Rangers keep winning rather than waiting for the Astros to stumble.
The Yankees are only 2.5 games out of a wild card spot, so they are going to put up a fight against Houston, as shown by a 4-3 New York win on Thursday night. This may be another opportunity for Texas to gain some ground against its division rival, but it won’t come easy like it did against Chicago.
Do you think the Rangers can continue their winning ways in August against Miami? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
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