Oakland Athletics (39-51) at Texas Rangers (49-41) Game 3 of 4 Preview (7:05 pm CT)

The Texas Rangers have obviously been pretty shaken due to the death of one of their fans at the Ballpark in Arlington on Thursday evening; however, they haven’t lost focus in their game and are still hammering their opponents. The Rangers, who are leading the AL West, seek their sixth consecutive win tonight as they face the Oakland Athletics, who are in last place in the AL West, for the third of four games.

The Rangers started off hot last night leading 7-1 after the first couple of innings – a huge thanks to Mike Napoli for hitting a Grand Slam in the first inning. The Rangers hit three total homers last night with the other two home runs coming from Ian Kinsler and Adrian Beltre. The Rangers now have a total of 78 homers this season, which is first in the Majors.

Poor Josh Hamilton went 1-for-5 last night and as if he hasn’t already had enough happen lately (as he is the player who threw the foul ball up to Shannon Stone in the stands who then fell to his death reaching over the railing to catch it), he hit a foul ball in the sixth that ended up striking a fan.

But that’s enough about last night, let’s have a look at what is in store for us tonight!

Pitching Matchups

RHP Colby Lewis will get the start for the Rangers tonight. Lewis is 8-7 with a 4.29 ERA. Lewis had a pretty good outing last time out pitching seven innings allowing three runs on five hits against Baltimore. His outing before wasn’t too bad when he allowed two runs on six hits over 6.2 innings. While he didn’t factor in the decision on June 22 against the Astros, he pitched seven scoreless innings of just three hits. Overall, in his previous four games, three have been wins for Lewis. Against Oakland this season, Lewis has pitched 15.1 innings allowing limiting the A’s to three runs on 11 hits with a 1.76 ERA. It seems as though Lewis is getting back on track after suffering several losses and several bad outings. Hopefully, he’ll maintain his rhythm and be the pitcher we all fell in love with last season.

RHP Brandon McCarthy will oppose Lewis on the hill tonight. McCarthy is 1-5 with a 3.33 ERA. He has just 10 starts this year and has only achieved one win, which was back on April 10 when he allowed just two runs in 7.1 innings. In his previous six outings, he has allowed three or more runs in five of them. Against Texas this year, he has pitched six innings permitting four runs on six hits. More than likely, he should prepare for another loss tonight as the Rangers bats are red hot and well, the A’s aren’t so he probably won’t get much run support.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

RHP Colby Lewis: Cliff Pennington is 5-for-21 with one homer and two RBIs, Hideki Matsui is 6-for-16 with two homers and five RBIs and Kurt Suzuki is 3-for-18 with two homers and two RBIs. Ryan Sweeney has gone 3-for-9 and Coco Crisp is 3-for-8 while Landon Powell doesn’t have a single hit in four at-bats.

RHP Brandon McCarthy: Adrian Beltre is 6-for-17 with one homer and six RBIs and Michael Young is 3-for-8 with one homer and five RBIs. The rest of the Rangers don’t have much, if any, experience against McCarthy, who by the way used to be a Ranger. In three at-bats, Mitch Moreland and Elvis Andrus have safely hit once but Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli have not. Ian Kinsler is 0-for-1 and David Murphy is 1-for-2.