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After salvaging the series finale against the White Sox the Guardians mess with Texas in a three-game series against the Rangers. The Guardians will be playing for their 14th, 15th, and 16th days in a row so fatigue may be a factor.
The Rangers are 22-20 overall and 10-9 at home. They just lost three straight to the Rockies on the road. Colorado had baseball’s worst record at 9-28 going into that series so that was a shocker as the Rangers had won five of six. According to powerrankingsguru.com the Rangers have played the third easiest schedule in the majors, so they might not be as good as their record suggests.
The Rangers have had a lot of injuries to starting pitchers as Scherzer, DeGrom, Mahle, Eovaldi, and Dunning are out. Eovaldi went 5-0 in the post-season last year as the Rangers won the World Series in five games. He has a 2.61 ERA in seven starts this year. Glad we're missing him.
The Rangers are very good offensively as they rank 6th in runs per game at 5.0. They are not as imposing from a power standpoint as some Rangers' teams in the past, ranking 18th in isolated power and home run percentage. In fact, they’re 27th in extra base hit percentage but 5th in batting average, so they hit a lot of singles.
They’re only 28th in average exit velocity so they are not big bangers. They are especially good with runners on base (.281/.774) and runners in scoring position (.309/.860). Their wRC+ is 121 in both those situations.
In short, the Rangers hit a lot of singles and excel at hitting with ducks on the pond. Their ballpark is ranked as the 7th most hitter friendly over the last three years and 6th easiest to homer in.
Their pitching is just OK as they rank 19th in team ERA. They’re around average in most categories but are 24th in walk percentage, so patience is a virtue against this staff. The one area where they are weak is stolen base percentage where they rank 28th. Opponents have been successful at 85% of their steal attempts so look for a lot of running by the Guardians, assuming they can get on. Lately they’ve been scoring all their runs via the long ball.
In terms of hitters the Rangers don’t have anybody who is killing it but they have five guys who have been productive.
1B Nathaniel Lowe .333/.938 vs RHP’s, .303/.832 overall
3B Josh Smith .282/.831
2B Marcus Semien .285/.795 with 29 RBI’s
RF Adolis Garcia .253/.765 with 31 RBI’s
C Jonah Heim .295/.742 with 26 RBI’s
Michael Lorenzen goes against Tanner Bibee in the opener. Lorenzen is a 32-year-old right-hander with a career mark of 42-40 with a 4.14 ERA. Not impressed? You should be. By the end of this season he’ll have been paid $32.5 million for those 42 wins.
After seven years starting for the Reds he’s been with four teams in the last three years. This year in five starts he is 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA.
Lorenzen has some extreme reverse splits as lefties are hitting just .111 against him (4-for-36) while right-handed hitters are roughing him up at .313/1.022. But Vogt will probably pack the lineup with left-handed bats. Some things never change.
Lorenzen has been alternating good and bad starts. Hard to know what to expect as he gave up six runs in his last start against Oakland but shut down the Royals on one run in six innings the previous start.
Speaking of getting roughed up, Bibee has allowed ten earned runs in nine innings over his last two starts, so both of Monday’s starters are coming off bad games. This could go either way.
Ben Lively goes on Tuesday against a yet to be named starter. Carlos Carrasco pitches the finale against veteran right-hander Jon Gray. Then the Guardians get a well-deserved day off on Thursday.
The Rangers are 22-20 overall and 10-9 at home. They just lost three straight to the Rockies on the road. Colorado had baseball’s worst record at 9-28 going into that series so that was a shocker as the Rangers had won five of six. According to powerrankingsguru.com the Rangers have played the third easiest schedule in the majors, so they might not be as good as their record suggests.
The Rangers have had a lot of injuries to starting pitchers as Scherzer, DeGrom, Mahle, Eovaldi, and Dunning are out. Eovaldi went 5-0 in the post-season last year as the Rangers won the World Series in five games. He has a 2.61 ERA in seven starts this year. Glad we're missing him.
The Rangers are very good offensively as they rank 6th in runs per game at 5.0. They are not as imposing from a power standpoint as some Rangers' teams in the past, ranking 18th in isolated power and home run percentage. In fact, they’re 27th in extra base hit percentage but 5th in batting average, so they hit a lot of singles.
They’re only 28th in average exit velocity so they are not big bangers. They are especially good with runners on base (.281/.774) and runners in scoring position (.309/.860). Their wRC+ is 121 in both those situations.
In short, the Rangers hit a lot of singles and excel at hitting with ducks on the pond. Their ballpark is ranked as the 7th most hitter friendly over the last three years and 6th easiest to homer in.
Their pitching is just OK as they rank 19th in team ERA. They’re around average in most categories but are 24th in walk percentage, so patience is a virtue against this staff. The one area where they are weak is stolen base percentage where they rank 28th. Opponents have been successful at 85% of their steal attempts so look for a lot of running by the Guardians, assuming they can get on. Lately they’ve been scoring all their runs via the long ball.
In terms of hitters the Rangers don’t have anybody who is killing it but they have five guys who have been productive.
1B Nathaniel Lowe .333/.938 vs RHP’s, .303/.832 overall
3B Josh Smith .282/.831
2B Marcus Semien .285/.795 with 29 RBI’s
RF Adolis Garcia .253/.765 with 31 RBI’s
C Jonah Heim .295/.742 with 26 RBI’s
Michael Lorenzen goes against Tanner Bibee in the opener. Lorenzen is a 32-year-old right-hander with a career mark of 42-40 with a 4.14 ERA. Not impressed? You should be. By the end of this season he’ll have been paid $32.5 million for those 42 wins.
After seven years starting for the Reds he’s been with four teams in the last three years. This year in five starts he is 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA.
Lorenzen has some extreme reverse splits as lefties are hitting just .111 against him (4-for-36) while right-handed hitters are roughing him up at .313/1.022. But Vogt will probably pack the lineup with left-handed bats. Some things never change.
Lorenzen has been alternating good and bad starts. Hard to know what to expect as he gave up six runs in his last start against Oakland but shut down the Royals on one run in six innings the previous start.
Speaking of getting roughed up, Bibee has allowed ten earned runs in nine innings over his last two starts, so both of Monday’s starters are coming off bad games. This could go either way.
Ben Lively goes on Tuesday against a yet to be named starter. Carlos Carrasco pitches the finale against veteran right-hander Jon Gray. Then the Guardians get a well-deserved day off on Thursday.
