The Texas Rangers head to the coast to take on the Tampa Bay Rays starting on Friday night in a three-game weekend series. The series pits the two top teams in the American League as the AL West-leading Rangers take on the AL East-leading Rays. The pitching matchup on Saturday will feature veteran righty Nathan Eovaldi (8-2, 2.24) taking on Ray's rookie righty Taj Bradley (4-2, 3.60). The first pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM EST.
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The Texas Rangers' week started slowly with the announcement that prized free-agent acquisition Jacob deGrom would be lost for the season while preparing for Tommy John surgery. Despite the grim diagnosis, the team rallied to win five of six games and head into this series with a five-game lead in the AL West Division over defending champion Houston. Texas will now hit the road and test their mettle against the team with the best record in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. On Friday night in game one of the series, the Rangers' potent offense was held to just three hits in an 8-3 loss. Leody Tavaras had two of those hits with two solo home runs.
Simmy all by himself!@NationalPro x #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/7uZPNHsbEm
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 8, 2023
The Rangers will give the ball to another of their free-agent pickups this year, Nathan Eovaldi, in game two of this series. Eovaldi is 8-2 on the season and has eight quality starts in his 12 overall starts this season. He has thrown 80.1 innings this season including two complete games. Eovaldi has a 2.24 ERA, an 8.6 K/9 rate and a 0.93 WHIP. On the road, Eovaldi is 5-1 with an ERA of just 1.49 in seven starts, five of them quality starts. His K/9 rate is 8.2 on the road and his WHIP is 0.95. Eovaldi has not allowed a run in each of his last two starts over the course of 11 innings, allowing just five hits and striking out 11 in the two starts.
Key Injuries: IF/OF Brad Miller is out
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