ARLINGTON, Texas — Taking on a 3rd Place team shouldn’t sound like a big deal for the defending World Series Champions. But the Texas Rangers have been playing like anything but champions. They are 2-8 in their last 10 and there doesn’t appear to be any form of solution to the team’s offensive woes.
On top of that, they sent another pitcher to the injured list, and it just happened to be the best pitcher in the rotation currently. This prompted another bullpen arm to come up, which continues the carousel of spit and duct tape that currently seems to be holding the Texas Rangers’ pitching staff together.
Now they head into Minnesota to face a Twins team that is fighting for relevancy in an AL Central with some surprising leaders, while the Rangers appear to be searching for an identity in general.
Texas Rangers (24-27, 2nd Place AL West, 3.0 GB) @ Minnesota Twins (26-23, 3rd Place AL Central, 6.5 GB)
Previously, for Minnesota…
The Twins finished up a road trip to Cleveland and Washington, which, kind of like their season thus far, could have been better, but could have been worse. The road trip came off the heels of being swept by the Yankees at home in a 3-game set and started off by being swept in Cleveland by the Guardians. After losing the first game in Washington, Minnesota came back in a big way, winning the final 2 games of the set, first by a 10-0 score, then a much closer set at 3-2.
The 9-game stretch has been a microcosm of the Twins’ season thus far. It has been up and it’s been down, and even with the 2 game winning streak against the Nationals, Minnesota appears to be in a bit of a downturn. Some would say it’s about time – prior to being swept by the Yankees and Guardians, the Twins won 17 of 20. The bungee cord nature of the season so far seems to serve a pretty clear indication of why Minnesota is squarely in the middle of the standings in the American League Central. But what’s put them there?
Much like the Rangers, when the offense goes good, it goes great. When the offense goes bad, it goes terribly. In this recent plummet, the Twins are hitting worse than the Rangers, having slashed .193/.248/.335. In their stretch of winning 17 out of 20, it was .284/.342/.489. Also like the Rangers, their pitching has been just below league median, although in the Twins’ case, it’s been more the actual performance of their intended starters and less a product of injuries. The rotation is in the bottom 3rd of the American League right now, sporting a 4.26 ERA and a .242 average against. By comparison, the Rangers’ rotation, held together by hopes and prayers, has a 3.68 ERA with a .228 average against. Their bullpen is much the same, with a 4.06 ERA and a .235 average against, but have also only converted 15 of 23 potential save situations. Not much needs to be said about the Rangers’ bullpen, who rank 30 out of 30 as far as ERA goes.
The Twins, after winning 2 in a row, could be on the upswing, but the rollercoaster has been so unpredictable, it’s hard to tell how the weekend return to Target Field will go.
What to Watch For
Game 52, 6:10 PM CST: Jose Ureña (1-3, 3.29 ERA) vs. Bailey Ober (4-2, 4.40 ERA)
Game 53, 1:10 PM CST: Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. Chris Paddack (4-2, 4.47 ERA)
Game 54, 1:10 PM CST: TBD vs. Pablo Lopez (4-4, 4.72 ERA)
Minnesota will send Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Pablo Lopez in the weekend tilt with Texas. In that trio is also a bit of a story of the journey of the Twins’ season. Ober has had an awful month of May, with one great outing wedged in between several bad ones. His most recent start, against division rival Cleveland, qualifies as a bad start. Ober only lasted 4 innings, giving up 5 runs on 8 hits. Ober’s season started off with an 8-run outing, followed by a strong string of starts in April and his current lack of success. Chris Paddack, on the other hand, pitched a career game last time out against the Guardians. The righty completed 8 innings for the first time in his career, giving up just 2 runs on 3 hits and only 100 pitches. Prior to that, though, Paddack gave up 5 runs and 12 hits in 5 innings. The series wraps up with Pablo Lopez on the hill for Minnesota. Lopez has shown signs of being an ace and was expected to be as much this year after a season that put him on the map. This season, however, it hasn’t all fallen into place. Much like his team as a whole, Lopez has had a couple of great outings in a row with a few other clunkers thrown in the mix. Last time against Washington, Lopez surrendered 7 runs on 8 hits, including 2 homers in just 5 innings of work.
Texas will counter with what remains of their rotation. Jose Ureña, who right now qualifies as the most reliable pitcher in the Rangers’ rotation will start the opener, with Michael Lorenzen taking the Saturday contest, and likely a bullpen game in the finale. Ureña, who seems to have found a home in the rotation as injuries continue to mount for Texas, might have a 1-3 record, but has pitched far better than that. With the exception of 1 outing, Ureña hasn’t given up more than 2 runs in an outing; he still hasn’t done so in a start. Against the Angels, Ureña gave up just 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings. Lorenzen has had a season that parallels the Twins’. He’s given the Rangers innings, but has had a few outings where he has given up 3, 5 and 6 runs – but the other starts, he has not given up more than 2. The start in which he gave up 2 runs was last time out against Los Angeles. Sunday would have been Jon Gray’s turn in the rotation, but he was placed on the Injured List just before Thursday’s game with a right groin strain.
Neither of these teams seem to have picked a direction they want their season to go, but something will have to give. Both teams are sporting awful records in their last 10 games and both appear to be ready to break out of offensive ruts.
