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Rangers News: Rangers Look to Secure Series Win vs Astros

By Ric Dickens

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Aug 3, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers right fielder Shin-Soo Choo (17) celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning against the Houston Astros at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The Texas Rangers (52-53) will resume their three game series with the Houston Astros (60-47) on Tuesday evening in Arlington, hoping to build off their win last night . Jeff Banister will turn to previous staff ace Yovani Gallardo (7-9, 3.39 ERA) and the Houston Astros will counter with 26-year-old Dan Straily (0-0, 5.06 ERA). Fox Sports Southwest will broadcast the game live locally, and MLB.tv subscribers can watch worldwide on connected devices.

Tonight the Rangers will be hoping for a strong performance from Gallardo and if he can turn one in then the Rangers will have a great shot at winning the series. Gallardo has struggled lately though, giving up five earned runs in each of his past three starts. On July 19th, just three short starts ago, Gallardo pitched an uninspiring four innings of ten hit ball, allowing seven earned runs against this Astros team. The Astros have been swinging the bats well as of late as the Rangers saw last night, and they’ll certainly be confident heading into tonight. If Gallardo does have one thing going for him, it’s that he usually keeps the ball in the ballpark. In his last ten starts he has only given up just three home runs, two of which did come in his last start though.

Dan Straily has been pressed into action and gets the start for the Astros tonight. It was supposed to be Mike Fiers but Houston manager A.J. Hinch opted to use him out of the pen last night. Straily has only made two starts this year in the MLB, both of which came in early July. He wasn’t overly impressive in either of them, allowing four earned runs and two earned runs respectively. In Straily you can expect a fastball in the upper 80’s to lower 90’s that he’ll try and paint on the corners. He will also use a slider and change-up to keep the Texas hitters off-balance.  He certainly won’t blow anything by Rangers hitters tonight, but rather he’ll try and paint the corners and get hitters to chase on pitches outside of the strike zone. In Triple-A he had a 3.65 ERA over 17 outings and I look for Rangers hitters to get after him.

Rangers skipper Jeff Banister and Astros skipper A.J. Hinch have announced the lineups for tonight’s game:

DeShields Is Banisters Guy

I talked a little bit yesterday about how I love Delino DeShields at the top of this lineup and it seems that Banister agrees. It had been a platoon type deal, with DeShields getting the starts against lefties and Leonys Martin getting the start against left handed pitching. But, the Rangers have announced today that they’ve optioned Martin to Triple-A Roundrock, handing over the full time CF reins to DeShields.

Pick To Click

This Rangers offense has been hot and I see no signs of them cooling off tonight. Last night I could’ve picked just about anyone and looked smart in doing so, but I picked Josh Hamilton who was one of two hitters to go hitless. So tonight it is back to the basics and I am going with the safe pick. Adrian Beltre will be my pick to click, an obvious choice after last nights cycle. The 36-year-old is really starting to heat up which is great news for the Rangers. Over his last seven games he’s hitting a scorching .429 with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs. He’s 6-17 lifetime against Dan Straily and I look for him to go 2-4 with a couple RBIs tonight.

Final Score Prediction

Last night I picked against the Rangers and I am not going to make that mistake again tonight. I think the Rangers have the better of the two pitchers on the hill tonight and I think this lineup is swinging the bats as well as they have all season. I think you’ll see Gallardo settle in now that the trade deadline rumors are gone and I also believe you’ll see this Rangers lineup stay hot. I think the Rangers win this one convincingly and take the game by a final score of 7-3.

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