Diamondbacks @ Rangers Preview: Rangers Look to Keep Up Streak

The Texas Rangers are coming off a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels and are going to be looking to keep up their run against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rangers are trying to close the four-game gap between themselves and the Oakland Athletics.  Their sweep of the Angels was a good start.  Texas went 32 days without picking up a game on the division-leading A’s before the sweep.  Oakland has lost two in a row and after the Rangers play their makeup game against the Diamondbacks, they will have to take on the Rangers.

The Diamondbacks are in a similar situation behind the Dodgers in the NL West.  They ended a three-game skid with a 7-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Both these ball clubs will be looking to start winning a lot of games sooner rather than later in order to get out of second place and secure a post season run.

The D-backs will be starting right-hander Zeke Spruill.  This will be his first MLB start.  In four relief appearances he has allowed just one run perhaps a sign of things to come.   In Triple-A, Spruill had a 3.24 ERA in 12 starts.

The Rangers will be starting their ACE pitcher and simply one of the pitchers in the MLB Yu Darvish.  In his last outing he struck out 11 batters and allowed just one run over six innings.  It was still a 1-0 loss as the Rangers offense failed to finish the job.  The one run in this game is the only run given up by Darvish in two starts.  Darvish also leads the league in strikeouts with 172.

The Rangers are the favorites according to Bovada with a -260 moneyline.  The D-backs moneyline is at +225.  The game starts at 7:05 p.m. ET.