ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers have stored up some momentum for an approaching road trip that begins this week in Milwaukee after winning four in a row to close out their homestand in Arlington over the weekend. They will need that momentum, as they are set to face two teams who have played their way into being playoff contenders with a stint against the Brewers that precedes a trip to Baltimore to take on the Orioles.
First up is Milwaukee, winners of three of the last six National League Central championships, and holders of a lead in the NL Central this season despite being a young team experiencing some growing pains.
Texas Rangers (37-40, 3rd Place AL West, 6.5 GB) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (45-33, 1st Place NL Central, +5.0)
Previously, for Milwaukee…
The weekend wasn’t as kind to the Brewers as it was to Texas. After winning four series in a row, the Brewers finished their road trip in San Diego where they dropped three in a row before salvaging a win in the finale.
Milwaukee lost the series largely because their starting pitching never gave them a chance to stay in the game. Each of the starters in the first three games gave up at least four runs, with Colin Rea, one of their more dependable starters this season, giving up five runs in his outing.
The victory in the finale will allow the Brewers to arrive back home with their heads held high but they’ve managed just a 5-5 record over their last ten games to allow the second place St. Louis Cardinals nibble a little off the division lead.
In the Sunday game, Milwaukee rode the arm of a relative unknown, rookie Tobias Myers, to a 6-2 win over the Padres. Myers, whom the Rangers will miss this series, has been Milwaukee’s best pitcher, putting up an 0.71 ERA and winning all four of his June starts despite pitching in just eleven games thus far in his big league career.
The Brewers’ rotation – much like Texas – has run into a rash of injuries, and although they have some on the way back, the NL Central leaders would love to see them return as soon as possible. Fortunately for Milwuakee, even with a bit of a hiccup in June, they’ve ridden a strong April and May to first place and still have a somewhat comfortable five game lead on the Cardinals.
Offensively, the Brewers have the fourth best average in the National League and are third with 4.82 runs per game. They’re not doing it necessarily on the strength of homers, but they are manufacturing a lot of runs. They’re third in the National League in hits and runs scored.
At 282 walks for the season so far, they are second in the NL in free passes – conversely, they’re also second in the NL in strikeouts. But ranking so high in those offensive categories means that big innings can pile up quickly for them. Rangers’ pitching has been good of late, but avoiding the big inning is going to be key in this series.
What to watch for
Game 78, 7:10 PM CT - RHP Michael Lorenzen (4-3, 3.00 ERA) vs. RHP Freddy Peralta (5-4, 4.06 ERA)
Game 79, 7:10 PM CT - LHP Andrew Heaney (2-8, 4.21 ERA) vs. RHP Bryse Wilson (4-3, 4.24 ERA)
Game 80, 1:10 PM CT - RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-3, 3.14 ERA) vs. RHP Colin Rea (6-2, 3.62 ERA)
Milwaukee has a lot going for them, statistically, despite coming off a poor series against the Padres. They’re also coming back home where they sport a 22-12 record, whereas the Rangers are 17-21 on the Road.
In interleague play, Milwaukee has a 21-14 record, opposite Texas’ 15-17 record. The Brewers also have 13 blowout wins, but if the Rangers’ offense is coming around at the right time, we could be in for some slugfests in Wisconsin.
The Rangers pitchers who will try to keep the Brewers off the board will be Michael Lorenzen, Andrew Heaney, and Nathan Eovaldi. Lorenzen has pitched well for the Rangers in June, putting up a 2.28 ERA in four starts. Against the Mets, Lorenzen put together another quality start, giving up three runs in six innings. From his time in the NL Central with the Reds, Lorenzen has 35 games of experience against the Brew Crew, going 1-4 with a 5.60 ERA, but much of that was as a reliever.
Heaney also put up a quality start against the Mets in the game where Texas started their current winning streak. Heaney has been consistent in that he’s allowed three runs in each of his last three starts. The lefty has been holding steady in the 80-90 pitch count range, so it’s always a question of how many outs he can chew through before he’s lifted.
Eovaldi, meanwhile, was incredible against the Royals at a time when the Rangers needed a “throwback” performance. As the Rangers’ offense awakened, Eovaldi took the Royals to task, giving up just two runs in six innings to start a stretch where Texas held KC scoreless through the final 22 innings of their weekend sweep.
The Brewers will send Freddy Peralta, Bryse Wilson and Colin Rea to the hill in this series. Peralta, who was supposed to be the team’s ace going into the season, has not had many ace-like performances so far this season. His last outing against the Los Angeles Angels was one of those moments, however, as he held the Halos scoreless over six innings.
Wilson has floated between the rotation and bullpen for most of the last two months. This start on Tuesday signifies his second in a row as a member of the rotation. Most recently, as the Brewers took on the Padres, Wilson allowed five runs on seven hits in just 4 ⅔ innings.
Wrapping up the series is Rea, who had been pitching fine for the Brewers until he ran into the Padres. San Diego roughed him up for five runs in 5 ⅓ innings. However, Rea sports a 6-2 record and four of those wins have come at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
The Rangers appear ready to challenge pitchers again as they’ve scored five or more in five of their last eight games and have averaged 5.25 runs per game during their current winning streak. The bats may also get a boost soon as the return of All-Star third baseman Josh Jung to the Major League diamond could come during this series.
Do you think the Rangers will continue their winning streak in Milwaukee? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
