Rangers series preview: Toronto Blue Jays

Rangers will begin the week by closing out their season series against Toronto with a four game set. Rangers are 1-2 against the Blue Jays this season.

When they faced each other up North at the end of May, the Rangers were without Beltre and Gomez, and had just been swept in Boston.

Toronto had just activated Donaldson and Tulowitzki off the DL, and they’d just swept a two game series in Milwaukee.

Now Toronto is 5-5 in their last 10 with a 33-35 record and lost the series against the Chicago White Sox, winning Sunday’s game.

The Rangers are currently 7-3 in their last 10 with a 34-34 record. More importantly, they have Beltre and Gomez back. They have their new ace, Tyson Ross. They also seem to be the healthiest they’ve been all season.

Game 1: Bibens-Dirkx vs Estrada

ABD pitched four innings against Toronto in May, gave up three runs on four hits and one walk and five strikeouts. Smoak, Tulowitzki, and Morales are each 1-2 against ABD, with a homer, a single, and a homer respectively. Donaldson, Bautista, Martin, and Pillar are all 0-2. Bibens-Dirkx has a 3.28 ERA in seven games (two starts) and in his last outing he went seven innings giving up just one run (a homer) on three hits.

Elvis has the highest OPS against Estrada, .721, with five hits in 20 plate appearances. Estrada has a 4.54 ERA in 14 starts. In his last outing he went 3.1 giving up six runs on 12 hits, two of which were home runs.

Game 2: Martinez vs Liriano

Donaldson has faced Martinez the most of any Blue Jays player with 15 at bats. He has four hits against Martinez and has struck out three times. Tulowitzki and Martin each have a home run off of Martinez, only two at bats against him. That was in June of 2015, the last time Toronto faced Martinez. He went 6 innings, gave up nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits and four walks. This was the game Adam Rosales pitched in.

Martinez has a 4.67 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) and his last outing was in a win against Houston, pitching six innings. He gave up two runs on five hits, struck out one and walked none.

Gomez has a 1.469 OPS against Liriano with 11 hits in 25 plate appearances with two homers, three walks, and four strikeouts. Napoli has a .972 OPS with two hits in 12 plate appearances, one home run, three walks, and three strikeouts. Beltre has faced Liriano the most with 37 plate appearances. A .905 OPS with 10 hits, one home run, five walks, and four strikeouts.

Liriano last pitched against the Rangers in May of 2016 pitching for the Pirates. He got the loss, going six innings and giving up five runs on six hits, walking four and striking out two.

Liriano has a 5.36 ERA in 10 starts. His last outing was a win against Tampa Bay. He went seven innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits, two walks, and struck out nine.

Game 3: Ross vs Biagini

Tulowitzki has the most plate appearances against Ross at 18. He has five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts with a .701 OPS. Morales has three hits in 10 plate appearances with one home run, one walk, and two strikeouts.

Ross has just one start this year, a 3.18 ERA. He went 5.2 in a win against Seattle, giving up just two runs on two hits, striking out five, and walking three. Ross last faced the Blue Jays in June of 2013 as a relief outing. He pitched 1.1 giving up just one hit.

Joey Gallo has the highest OPS against Biagini... just three plate appearances but he has each of the three true outcomes, one walk, one homer, and one strikeout. Elvis and Napoli both have seven plate appearances against Biagini, each with just one hit.

Biagini currently has a 4.26 ERA in 22 games (8 starts.) His last start was a loss against the White Sox. He went just one inning, giving up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits and gave up just one walk. His previous two starts he had gone seven innings each. The start before that was against the Rangers where he went six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits. He struck out seven Rangers, walked one, and gave up a Gallo homer.

Game 4: Perez vs Stroman

Donaldson has the most plate appearances against Perez with eight hits, four walks, three strikeouts in 25 PA’s. He has a 1.667 OPS.

Perez has a 4.72 ERA in 14 starts this season. His last outing was a win against Seattle. He went 5.1, gave up four runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out five. His last regular season outing against Toronto was a loss in May of last season. Perez went 6.1, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits, he walked three and struck out three.

Napoli has the most plate appearances against Stroman with two hits, one homer, one walk, and three strikeouts in 12 PA’s. Nap has a .795 OPS against Stroman, only second behind DeShields who has a 1.143 OPS with three hits in seven PAs.

Stroman has a 3.15 ERA in 14 starts. His last outing was a loss against the White Sox. He went seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits, he gave up three home runs, struck out five and walked one. Stroman hasn’t faced the Rangers in the regular season since July of 2014. He got the win, going seven innings, giving up four hits, no runs or walks, five strikeouts.

Team Numbers

In the AL. Rangers rank 3rd in runs with 331 while Toronto is 14th with 291 runs. Toronto has just two more home runs than the Rangers, 95 and 93 respectively. The Rangers are striking out more with 617 while the Blue Jays have 528 (which they’ve complained about every last one.)

And if you made it through all those numbers, your reward: