ARLINGTON, Texas — On paper, things look just fine for the defending World Series champions: The Texas Rangers entered Wednesday's doubleheader against Oakland with a 21-16 record, and they hold a first-place standing in the American League West.
And then there's the fact that Texas is again leading the American League in runs scored this year -- thanks in no small part to a 15-run outburst on Tuesday (their second such output in four days) -- and is also riding a four-game winning streak.
Also on paper, though: They're kind of running out of pitchers.
Right-hander Dane Dunning hit the 15-day Injured List on Wednesday with a rotator cuff strain on his throwing shoulder, the team announced.
He joins fellow Rangers starting pitchers Nathan Eovaldi (groin, 15-day IL), Cody Bradford (ribs, 15-day IL), Max Scherzer (back, 15-day IL), Jacob deGrom (elbow, 60-day IL) and Tyler Mahle (elbow, 60-day IL) on the shelf.
Scherzer, deGrom and Mahle weren't expected to be pitching at this point in the season anyway, as all three have been recovering from more long-term injuries -- deGrom and Mahle especially. But Scherzer appeared to be on track for an earlier return before a sore thumb sidelined him again. Now, the Rangers don't have a timeline on when he'll start throwing again.
Of course, the bigger problems facing Texas at the moment are the injuries to Eovaldi, Bradford and, now, Dunning. All three are expected to be OK and return sometime over the next month, but their absence is putting the already-thin Rangers starting rotation in a pinch -- particularly while heading into a doubleheader Wednesday against the Athletics.
As a result, the Rangers on Wednesday also announced the call-ups of right-handed pitcher Jack Leiter and right-handed pitcher Owen White. Leiter was appointed as the roster's allowed 27th player for the doubleheader, while White was simply recalled to the big league roster.
Leiter was expected to get the start in the nightcap Wednesday, while Michael Lorenzen started the opener.
As for Friday's game against the Rockies... well, the Texas starter remained to-be-determined at the time of this writing.
In any case, the Rangers rotation for the next couple weeks will likely be some kind of combination of: White, Leiter, Lorenzen, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney and Jose Urena, per MLB.com's Kennedi Landry.
