The Texas Rangers reopen their second-half of the season with a trip to Oakland Coliseum to taek on the Oakland Athletics. Texas lost their last four games heading into the All-Star break, being swept at home by the Mariners to drop to 41-49 on the year. The A's are currently last in the AL West at 32-61, and have been the worst team in the MLB on their home field going 11-31 in home games this season.
Oakland has arguably the worst offense in the MLB this season hitting just .211 as a team and scoring 3.29 runs per game, ranking last and second-to-last in the MLB. First baseman Seth Brown leads team in home runs (10) and RBIs (38), both of which are on pace to break his career-highs, but not near enough to lead the A's to wins.
The left-handed Cole Irvin will get the start for the A's, and despite a 4-7 record he's been a solid starter posting a 3.21 ERA and 1.10 WHIP which are top-30 in the MLB in both. In Irvin's last start against Houston, he allowed a run on three hits and struck out four in six innings of work as the A's knocked off the Astros 5-1. It's been the best year of Irvin's career thus far, improving upon his 4.29 career ERA.