Toronto Blue Jays (9-12) at Texas Rangers (14-7) Preview Game 1

The Texas Rangers ended up making a sweep of their last three-game series against the Kansas City Royals, which ended last night. Arthur Rhodes came into the game for the last inning and got the save. The day before, Darren Oliver came in and got the save. With these two guys picking up saves pretty effortlessly, the club may be set to put Feliz in the starting rotation come next year but that is something that is left to be seen.

While the Rangers have only seen three-game series so far this season, they’ll open their first four-game series tonight at home against the Toronto Blue Jays. This series will let the Rangers come face-to-face with their former teammate, Frank Francisco. He isn’t a closer for the opposing team just yet and is currently the set-up man.

Pitching Matchups

The Rangers will look to RHP Colby Lewis to continue their winning streak. Lewis’ last time out was a little shaky. He had missed his previous start due to taking paternity leave to spend time with his daughter who had just arrived into the world. His fastball has not been at the velocity that it should be but hopefully, he’ll be back to his oldself tonight. To be quite honest, though, he hasn’t been truly impressive all season except for his first start when he only allowed three runs on six hits. He is 1-2 with a 5.82 ERA for the season after allowing 12 runs on 17 hits.

The Blue Jays will counter with RHP Kyle Drabek on the mound. Although Toronto has won all four games in which he has started, he only received a decision in the first game putting himself at 1-0 for the season with a respectable 3.00 ERA. His first time out, he allowed just a single run on a sole hit over seven innings while striking out seven and walking three. His next two starts, he allowed two runs on six hits over 6 and 5.2 innings. His last time out, he allowed four runs on six hits while just striking out two batters but walked four. This last time out, he lasted 5.1 innings and it was against the New York Yankees. He has a tough night ahead of him and he’ll need to make sure he has his command in check or the Rangers’ batters will take advantage of the pitcher’s mishap.

Pitchers vs. Hitters

RHP Colby Lewis: Corey Patterson is 2-for-3 with one RBI, Jose Bautista is 2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI, Chris Woodward is 1-for-2 with two RBIs, Jose Molina is 1-for-3 with one RBI and Travis Snider is 1-for-2.

RHP Kyle Drabek: No Ranger has ever faced Drabek.