ARLINGTON, Tex. — After dropping a 3-game series against the Detroit Tigers the Texas Rangers begin a 3-game series against the Minnesota Twins tonight. The weekend series will be the last season series against the Twins. The Texas Rangers took 3 of 4 from the Minnesota Twins during their 4-game series at Target Field in May. The Rangers lead all-time series 259-255 and have the home-field advantage with a 57-45 lead at Globe Life Park. Here is your Texas Rangers Roundup.
Call to the Pen
TEXAS RANGERS: (35-43, .449)
- Texas has lost a season-high 8 straight games and is the longest active streak in MLB
- The current 8-game losing streak is the longest by the Texas Rangers since losing 8 consecutive games from 8/8-16/2005
- The last longer streak was from 5/30/2003-6/8/2003 when the Rangers dropped 9 in a row
- The Texas Rangers still sit in 4th place in the American League West and are +2.0 games ahead of 5th-place Houston Astros (That is NOT a typo!)
- Texas is currently 13.0 games behind first place Oakland Athletics and 6.5 GB third place Seattle Mariners
- Texas’ 16-22 (.421) home record is lowest winning percentage in A.L. and 2nd-lowest in the majors
WELL BLANK:
- Texas was shut out for the fourth time last night, all of which have been individual complete blankings
- The Texas Rangers were blanked on 4/28 versus Oakland Athletics (Sonny Gray), 5/13 at Houston Astros (Dallas Keuchel) and 5/16 versus Toronto Blue Jays (Drew Hutchison)
- Texas is still one of only 9 MLB clubs to be shut out4 times-or-less in 2014 (individual or combined shutout)
BAKER’S RELIEF:
- Scott Baker pitched 6.2 relief innings last night to finish the game and allowing only 2 runs, posting numbers that would qualify as a quality start for a starting pitcher
- The last pitcher to have a quality start line by a reliever was the Minnesota Twins’ Liam Hendriks on 9/21/2013 at Oakland Athletics
- Baker was the longest relief outing in MLB this season and the longest by a Ranger since Ross Wolf (6.2 IP, 1 R-0ER) in an 18-inning loss at Toronto Blue Jays on 6/8/13
- Scott Baker’s outing marks the 4th relief outing of 6.2+ innings by a Ranger in the last 18 seasons (1997-2014)
- Baker has just 2 starts and 10 appearances since his Texas Rangers debut on May 7 and ranks 6th on the staff with 39.1 innings this season
NUMBERS DON’T LIE:
- The Texas Rangers’ have used an MLB-high 42 players this season, and 23 pitchers (including Mitch Moreland) ranks T2nd in MLB (Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros each at 23), and have used 11 rookies
- For the ENTIRE 2013 season Texas used: 46 players, 24 pitchers and 13 rookies
- The Texas Rangers lead MLB in both overall disabled list uses (20) and current players on the DL (14)
- The 20 DL uses are already most by the Rangers since 25 in 2010 (I think we finished that year in a good place)
- The club record for DL use is 29 from 2004
MINOR MOVES:
- Brad Snyder was designated for assignment on Tuesday and cleared waivers on Thursday elected to decline an outright assignment to Round Rock (AAA) today and elected free agency
INJURY UPDATE:
- Engel Beltre has been on the DL all season with a fractured right fibia began an injury rehab assignment with Round Rock (AAA) last night and went 0-for-4 with an RBI
- Derek Holland went through pitcher’s fielding practice June 26; scheduled to throw simulated game June 29
- Geovany Soto caught pitches June 20-21
TONIGHT’S LINEUP:
TEXAS RANGERS: RHP Nick Tepesch (2-3, 4.38)
- Shin-Soo Choo LF
- Elvis Andrus SS
- Carlos Pena 1B
- Adrian Beltre DH
- Alex Rios RF
- Leonys Martin CF
- Chris Gimenez C
- Luis Sardinas 3B
- Rougned Odor 2B
MINNESOTA TWINS: RHP Kevin Correia (4-8, 5.02)
- Brian Dozier 2B
- Kurt Suzuki C
- Joe Mauer 1B
- Josh Willingham LF
- Kendrys Morales DH
- Oswaldo Arcia RF
- Eduardo Escobar 3B
- Sam Fuld CF
- Pedro Florimon SS
ON DECK FOR TOMORROW:
- RHP Yu Darvish (7-4, 2.62) versus Minnesota Twins’ RHP Phil Hughes (8-3, 3.40)
- You can tune in to Fox Sports 1/ 103.3 FM/ 1270 AM at 3:05 (CDT)