It’s another chapter in the battle of AL West teams from the Lone Star State on the diamond in this contest. The Texas Rangers are on the road as they play the middle game of a three-game set with the Houston Astros Wednesday night. Texas split a four-game series at home with the White Sox as they were drubbed 8-2 in the finale of the set on Sunday afternoon. Houston split their four-game road series on the road with Cleveland as their bats were held in check, getting blanked 1-0 in the finale Sunday afternoon. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the series opener of Tuesday’s contest at Minute Maid Park.
Texas split their four-game series with the White Sox at home as they were roughed up in the finale of the set Sunday afternoon. The Rangers entered Tuesday third in the AL West race, 21 games behind the Astros for the top spot in the division race. In the AL wild card picture, the team stood 9.5 games behind the Mariners for the final wild card spot. On Sunday, Texas got three hits from Nathaniel Lowe (run, two RBI) while Marcus Semien (run) and Ezequiel Duran each added a pair in the loss. Lowe hit his 16th homer of the season in a losing effort. Spencer Howard (2-4) took the loss on the mound as he allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts over 3.1 innings of work.
Glenn Otto toes the slab for his 17th start of the year for the Rangers in this contest. He comes in 4-8 with a 5.31 ERA, a 1.41 WHIP, 39 walks and 64 strikeouts over 78 innin gs of work. Otto took the loss in his last start, which came Friday at home against the White Sox. He threw six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in a game the Rangers lost 2-1. In his last three starts, Otto is 0-2 with a 4.96 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, five walks and 17 strikeouts over 16.1 innings of work. Otto makes his fifth career start against the Astros in this contest. He is 0-2 with a 5.30 ERA, a 1.554 WHIP, nine walks and 17 strikeouts over 18.2 innings of work. Otto was beaten in his lone career start at Minute Maid Park, which came May 19. In that contest, he threw six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts in a game the Rangers eventually lost 5-1.