Texas Rangers (17-14) at Seattle Mariners (14-17) Preview Series Finale

The Rangers are in Seattle tonight for the final game of the series before they head to New York  tomorrow. The Rangers have taken one game of this series as have the Mariners meaning tonight’s game is the series-winning game. They’ll look to get two straight wins when they get on the field tonight.

Pitching Matchups

To take the mound for the Mariners is LHP Jason Vargas. Vargas is 1-2 for the season with an earned run average of 5.45 over six starts this season and has 25 strikeouts. His last start was at Boston on April 29 where he earned his very first win of the 2011 season. He allowed four runs on eight hits over seven innings – two of those runs were homers.

Against Texas, he has nine appearances, seven of which are starts. He is 1-3 with a 4.86 ERA over 37 innings allowing 20 earned runs in eight games, six starts.

RHP Colby Lewis gets on the hill for the Rangers tonight. Lewis is 2-3 with an earned run average of 5.70 over five starts this year and has 20 strikeouts. On this same road trip, which was also his last outing, Lewis got the win against the Oakland Athletics Saturday after Texas won 11-2. Lewis pitched eight innings allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out six and walking one. This was his second quality start of the season.

Against Seattle, he is 4-3 over 14 appearances in his career pitching 71 innings allowing 29 earned resulting in a 3.73 ERA – 10 of those appearances being starts. He had four starts against the Mariners last year and went 2-1 with an impressive 1.55 ERA allowing five runs over 29 innings. Last season he was 0-1 at Safeco Field with a 1.80 ERA. He pitched 15 innings allowing three earned runs. Nine of those innings were shutout innings pitched in a 2-0 victory for Texas over 12 innings.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

RHP Colby Lewis: Most of the Mariners haven’t hit well off Lewis; however, Adam Kennedy is 3-for-8 with one homer and two RBIs, Ichiro Suzuki is 14-for-37 with two RBIs, Chone Figgens is 5-for-16 with one RBI, Jack Wilson is 2-for-9 and Jack Cust is 1-for-12. The rest of the guys haven’t been able to hit off Lewis.

RHP Jason Vargas: Yorvit Torrealba is 2-for-2 with one homer and one RBI, Adrian Beltre is 1-for-2 with one RBI, Ian Kinsler is 4-for-10, Michael Young is 6-for-16 with two RBIs, Mike Napoli is 5-for-15 with one homer and one RBI and Nelson Cruz is 4-for-13 with two homers and three RBIs. David Murphy is 0-for-5, Mitch Moreland is 0-for-3 and Elvis Andrus is 1-for-12.