Texas Rangers (16-11) at Oakland Athletics (13-14) Game 3 Preview

The Rangers won their second game in six Saturday with 14 combined hits for a score of 11-2 snapping their three game losing streak on the road. The Rangers will look to get two consecutive wins on the road since snapping their losing streak when they start the third of four games at the Overstock.com Coliseum this afternoon at 3:05 p.m. CT.

Michael Young got his first homerun of the season last night. That’s not the only thing that made his April great, though. He has 38 hits for the month of April, which tied his career high that he set back in 2006. In addition, he had 12 doubles, which tied a team record, and 19 RBIs, which wasn’t a team record but a personal career high. Michael currently leads the team in batting average with a .342. Young will look to continue his start of the season success for the month of May.

Pitching Matchups

The Rangers will put LHP Matt Harrison on the mound for Sunday’s game. He is 3-2 with a 3.69 ERA over five starts with 20 strikeouts. His ERA is a season high as the left-hander struggled his last time out and left the game after 3 innings of allowing a season high of seven runs against Toronto. He has won both of his two starts on the road and will look to make his third consecutive road win.

Against Oakland, Harrison is 3-0 with an earned run average of 3.57 over six games, three of which are start and the wins. He allowed nine earned runs over 22.2 innings pitched against the A’s. In Oakland, he is 2-0 over two starts with an ERA of 0.64 allowing one earned run over 14 innings.

The A’s will counter with LHP Gio Gonzalez. He is 2-2 with a 2.70 ERA for the season over five starts. He raised his ERA over the last two games after allowing nine runs over just 1 innings. On Monday against the Angels, he allowed five runs, which was a season high for him, over five pitched innings.

Against Texas, he has eight appearances, six of which are starts, and is 2-1 with an ERA of 2.09 after allowing nine runs over 38.2 innings. He is 2-0 with a very impressive 0.83 earned run average at home against Texas in four games allowing just two earned runs in 21.2 innings.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

LHP Matt Harrison: The A’s have had decent success of Harrison in the past. Kevin Kouzmanoff is 1-for-1, Coco Crisp is 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs (although he may not be available for today’s game), Kurt Suzuki is 3-for-7, Daric Barton is 1-for-2 and David DeJesus is 1-for-6 with a RBI. Andy LaRoche, Hideki Matsui and Landon Powell have been unable to get a hit off Matt. 

LHP Gio Gonzalez: Only a few of the guys have had good success off Gonzalez. Adrian Beltre is 7-for-13 with two homers and seven RBIs, Julio Borbon is 4-for-7, Ian Kinsler is 4-for-8 with two doubles and one RBI. David Murphy is 3-for-10, Young is 3-for-16 with one homer and one RBI and Elvis Andrus is 2-for-12. Nelson Cruz hasn’t gotten a hit in six at-bats against Gonzalez.

My Prediction

If Harrison can get back to his normal routine rather than have an outing as he did last time struggling early on, this should be a pretty close game. Both starters are bringing a lot to the table and Harrison is going to need some backup from his team.

Feel free to chime in with your own predictions below for today’s game.