ARLINGTON, Texas — Even though the Texas Rangers (72-52, 1st Place AL West) have been one of the best teams in the big leagues since the calendar turned to August, they travel to Arizona coming off a very meaningful series against the Milwaukee Brewers in which they were swept.
To make matters worse, that dud of a series was Texas’ final home game of the month which means they open the stretch run of the season with nine games in three cities to finish out the month.
The Diamondbacks (64-61, 3rd Place NL West, -1.0 Wild Card), meanwhile, suffered three straight sweeps earlier this month at the hands of the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, before winning their last three series in a ten-game stretch for a 7-3 record against the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies.
At the deadline
The Diamondbacks went into the trade deadline claiming to be heavy buyers to make a Wild Card push, but also made some cost-saving moves for the future. The majority of their moves filled pieces of their postseason puzzle, most notably, as most contending teams did, by upgrading their bullpen.
The biggest acquisition that Arizona made was for closer Paul Sewald. Sewald had been acting as the primary closer for the Seattle Mariners, who, incidentally, also find themselves right in the middle of the AL West playoff race, after seemingly being well out of the race at the start of the month. But the move was made, and Sewald was as good a piece as Arizona could get to anchor their bullpen.
Sewald has logged 26 saves between the Mariners and Diamondbacks. While the numbers might indicate that the 33-year old performed better in Seattle (a .146 average against and 0.77 WHIP with the Mariners versus .208 average against and 1.14 WHIP with Arizona), there’s no denying that Sewald was a move made to reinvigorate a D-Backs’ bullpen that had put up a sub-4.00 ERA before the All-Star break, but ballooned up to above 6.00 afterwards.
Arizona also pulled from the hapless New York Mets, taking outfielder Tommy Pham off their hands to serve as a platoon player, a right-handed hitting supplement to Alek Thomas and Corbin Carroll.
In 79 games with the Mets, Pham slashed .268/.348/.472. While his average and on-base percentage have dropped slightly since joining the Snakes, he’s provided more pop, to the tune of a .508 slugging percentage in 15 games with Arizona. A home run from Pham was the decisive blow in the doubleheader against the Padres on Saturday, a game that Sewald saved.
The matchups
Game 125: 8:40 PM CT – LHP Jordan Montgomery (8-10, 3.30 ERA) vs. RHP Slade Cecconi (0-0, 3.48 ERA)
Game 126: 8:40 PM CT – RHP Jon Gray (8-6, 3.52 ERA) vs. RHP Zac Gallen (13-5, 3.17 ERA)
The brief two-game set at Chase Field starts with the Rangers’ Jordan Montgomery facing off against rookie Slade Cecconi. Montgomery's three-game tenure with Texas thus far has him at a 2-1 record with a 2.50 ERA. His most recent start, against the Angels, was a strong six-inning effort in which he gave up one run on six hits.
Montgomery’s one start this season against the Diamondbacks back on April 18, which came at Busch Stadium as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, saw him give up seven runs in four innings. A lot of things have changed in the ensuing months, however, as Montgomery is on an entirely different team and hasn’t given up more than two runs in any of his three starts with Texas.
Rookie Cecconi has made three appearances for Arizona, all three against division rivals. Two of those appearances have been starts, but Cecconi hasn’t pitched out of the 5th inning yet in his big league career. Like Montgomery, Cecconi hasn’t given up more than two runs in either of his starts. In his first season with Triple-A Reno, Cecconi put up a 4-8 record with a 6.38 ERA over 20 starts. He gets hit, with opponents averaging .274 against him and he averaged more than one home run per start.
The Tuesday finale pits the Rangers’ Jon Gray against the Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen in a rematch from May. Gray’s last time out against the Diamondbacks wasn’t a stunning performance, but it was enough to keep Texas in a game that they would eventually win 6-4. Gray gave up all four of those runs on eight hits, including two homers in 5 ⅓ innings.
Gray’s last two starts in August have been outstanding, however. Brandishing a slider with much more control, Gray has gone seven innings in each of his last two starts, shutting out the Giants and giving up just one run against the Angels.
Gallen, meanwhile, did not have a typical Zac Gallen start against the Rangers the last time the two teams faced off, giving up three runs on seven hits in five innings. Prior to that start, Gallen had registered four straight scoreless starts. After that start, he’s only posted two scoreless outings in 19 starts. One of those scoreless outings was two starts ago, against San Diego.
Nevertheless, Gallen is a presumed Cy Young favorite at the moment and has been having a good August so far, having pitched 25 ⅓ innings while posting a 2.13 ERA with opponents hitting .200 off him. He represents a big challenge for Texas.
With both the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners breathing down their necks, The Rangers need to snap out of their offensive funk and give the two starters in this short series some good run support. With a tough slate ahead of them, there’s no room for Bruce Bochy’s club to let off the gas.
Do you think the Rangers will be able to overcome their slump in Arizona? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
