Rangers meet Reds in Interleague matchup
The Texas Rangers host the Cincinnati Reds in the second game of a three game interleague series in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers come into the game with an overall record of 47-33 after defeating the Reds in game one of the series on Friday night. The Rangers lead the American League West by a full game over the second place Oakland A’s.
Cincinnati enters the game with a won loss record of 45-35 after losing Friday night to Texas. The Reds are in third place in the National League Central trailing both the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates in what is considered the toughest division in all of baseball.
Entering the weekend series the Rangers had won two straight and 8 of 10 to move back into first place after trailing the A’s by two games just two weeks ago. The Rangers will have Nick Tepesch on the mound tonight. Tepesch is 3-6 on the season with an ERA of 4.60 and 54 strikeouts. The right-hander has won his last two starts against Oakland and St. Louis.
Opposing him on the mound for Cincinnati is Mike Leake. This season Leake is 7-3 on with an ERA of 2.61. His ERA leads the team. The right-hander has 63 strikeouts on the year and a WHIP of 1.17. Leake is 2-1 over his past four starts, defeating the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates while having a no decision in his last outing against Arizona.
The Reds are eighth in on base percentage, eleventh in runs scored, seventeenth in slugging percentage and eighteenth in batting average.
However, it is their pitching staff that is impressive. The Reds pitchers are second in opponent’s batting average, third in WHIP, fourth in quality starts and fifth in ERA in the league.
Offensively, the Rangers are fifth in slugging percentage, eighth in batting average, twelfth in runs scored and on base percentage.
The pitching staff is strong, led by Yu Darvish, and is seventh in team ERA, ninth in opponent’s batting average, tenth in WHIP and nineteenth in quality starts.
Texas batters have been on a tear over their past 8 games coming into the Reds series. Over that stretch, the team was 7-1, averaging nearly 5 runs per game and batting .310 while runners were in scoring position.
The teams have not met head to head since 2007 prior to Friday’s opening game and the Reds have not played in Texas Stadium since 2002.
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