Texas Rangers look to keep their engine running in the Motor City

The Texas Rangers open up the last leg of their current road trip, against the Detroit Tigers, starting at 12:10 CT today. MLB has an entire slate of games scheduled throughout the day, giving many fans that might be off work for Memorial Day, the opportunity to watch plenty of baseball.

Nathan Eovaldi pitching lights out for Texas Rangers

Nathan Eovaldi will get the ball for the Rangers in the series opener today. Eovaldi has been pitching good all season. But he has taken his game to the top of the stratosphere over his last five starts, dating back to his April 29th outing, against the New York Yankees. Over that span, he has pitched 41 2/3 innings, is 4-0 (the only no decision was against Atlanta, and he left after seven innings with the lead), has 35 strikeouts, only six walks, boasts a 0.86 ERA, and has a .158 batting average against. Two of those starts were complete games, with one of those being a complete game shutout. Eovaldi is dealing and he will look to help get the Rangers back in the win column today.

Similar to when the Rangers hosted Colorado, Detroit has had a tale of two seasons already. At the end of April, the Tigers were a lowly 10-17, and it was looking like it would be another long summer in the Motor City. However, during the month of May, they have put together a record of 15-9. Perhaps Detroit took the old saying "April showers bring May flowers" to heart, and that is why they are playing so well at the moment. Whatever the case may be, with their strong May performance, Detroit now finds themselves only one game below .500 and one game behind the Minnesota Twins, for first place in the mediocre AL Central division.

Former Texas Rangers' farm hand, Mason Englert, sticking in Detroit thus far

One positive with this series, is the fact that the Rangers will be missing the Tiger's ace, Eduardo Rodriguez, as he threw another gem yesterday. But one pitcher that the Rangers might get a look at, and will be familiar with, is Mason Englert. Englert was selected by Detroit in last winter's Rule 5 draft from Texas. It was a bit surprising that the Tigers took Englert as he is only 23 and had spent most of his time at High-A Hickory with the exception of three games at the Double-A level late last season.

In the Texas farm system, Englert had been used as a starter, but Detroit has put him into the bullpen and used him for some multi-inning outings. Before Rangers' fans start yelling at their screens about letting a potential bullpen solution get away, Englert's numbers haven't been the best. He has pitched in 17 games, thrown 29 2/3 innings, recorded 21 strikeouts, given up a whopping eight homeruns, has a 5.16 ERA, and a 1.382 WHIP. Will Englert end up being a good MLB pitcher? Possibly, but Detroit is working through plenty of growing pains with the young hurler to see if they can get him there.

The key to Detroit's climb in the standings, has been their ability to win the close games. They are 9-4 in one run games and 6-2 when playing extra innings. Detroit actually added a win in both of those categories yesterday, with their 6 to 5, 10 inning victory over the Chicago White Sox. The Rangers on the other hand are 4-6 in one run games and 1-2 in extra innings. It might serve Texas well, to put up plenty of runs on the Tigers and not get caught up in a tight game, if they can keep from it. Detroit has scored the third fewest runs in MLB at 195, while the Rangers are second in the league with 329. The Texas bats will want to come alive in this series and help to overwhelm the undermanned offense of the Tigers.

So far on the road trip, the Rangers have taken the first two series from both Pittsburgh and Balitmore. They will now look to make it a clean sweep in series victories as they attempt to take down the Detroit Tigers. After an off day on Thursday, the Rangers will open up a home series against AL West division rival, the Seattle Mariners.