Kansas City Royals (12-9) at Texas Rangers (13-7) Series Finale Preview

The Texas Rangers host the Kansas City Royals today for the series finale of this three-game series in Arlington. The Rangers have won the first two games and will look to make it a sweep this afternoon.

Pitching Matchups

The Rangers go with their ace lefty C.J. Wilson this afternoon, who doesn’t prefer pitching during the day according to ESPN. This is Wilson’s fifth start for the 2011 MLB season. He is 2-0 although the team has won three and lost one with him starting. His last time out was against the Los Angeles Angels. He pitched 7 innings in which he struckout nine batters and walked one while allowing one earned run on nine hits. For the season, he has 21 strikeouts and has allowed 12 runs on 28 hits over 26.1 innings and has an earned run average of 3.08.

The Royals will counter with left-handed Bruce Chen. Chen is up for his fifth start as well but is 3-0 although the team has won all four of their games with him starting on the mound. His last time out was against the Cleveland Indians when he allowed two earned runs on six hits over the course of seven innings and struckout five batters and walked three. For the season, he has 16 strikeouts while allowing eight runs on 23 hits over 26 innings pitched and has a 2.42 ERA.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

LHP C.J. Wilson:  The Royals haven’t necessarily hit well against Wilson. Only four have been able to get a hit off him. Jeff Francoeur is 1-for-2, Melky Cabrera is 1-for-6, Billy Butler is 3-for-9 and Alex Gordon is 1-for-4. With minor success off Wilson, C.J. may just put a stop to Gordon’s hitting streak.

LHP Bruce Chen: Adrian Beltre and Michael Young have the most experience against Chen batting 6-for-23 with one homer and three RBIs and 4-for-10 with one RBI respectively. Yorvit Torrealba is 2-for-3 and Ian Kinsler is 1-for-1. The rest of the lineup haven’t got a hit or haven’t faced Chen.

Prediction

I think the Rangers have this one in the bag. They’ll win 6-3.

What are your thoughts? Chime in below please!