Rangers series preview: New York Yankees

Ranger begin a 10 game road trip playing the Yankees in New York. The three game series will will feature the two young power hitters in Joey Gallo and Aaron Judge. Judge is currently leading the AL with 24 homers but Gallo isn’t too far behind with 19 of his own.

Rangers are coming off a 4-3 home stand and back to .500 baseball with a 36-36 record. They’re 6-4 in their last 10.

Carlos Gomez will go into the series with a 10 game hitting streak. Beltre has 16 RBI in 19 games. In his last seven starts at lead-off, Choo is batting .480 with three home runs, six RBI, eight runs and eight walks. Choo is tied for first in the AL for walks.

Yankees just finished up a series against the Angels which they lost and they’re 2-8 in their last 10 with a 39-31 record. Before the won the second game of the LA series, they had a seven game losing streak that included a four game sweep by Oakland.

Judge is currently leading the AL in almost every offensive category. Home runs, on base percentage, slugging, runs scored, and tied with Choo in walks. He’s second in the AL for average.

Game One: Darvish vs Tanaka

Darvish is 3-1 with one no decision in his career against the Yankees. He got the win last time he faced them in July of 2014. Darvish went seven innings, gave up two runs on nine hits, one walk, and struck out eight. Both runs courtesy of solo homers. This season Darvish is 6-5 with a 3.35 ERA. He is 3-3 in his last seven starts, pitching 42.1 with a 3.83 ERA.

Yankees have just four players in their current lineup who have faced Darvish, Brett Gardner is 5-11 with four home runs. Chris Cater is 2-16 with right strikeouts.

Tanaka is 0-1 with a no decision in his career against the Rangers. Tanaka has a 6.34 ERA, 5-7 on the season but 0-6 in his last seven starts. In those starts, his ERA is 8.91. In his last outing against Oakland, he went just four innings, gave up five runs on eight hits but still struck out 10.

Napoli is 7-13 in 17 plate appearances against Tanaka with two homers, four walks and a 1.878 OPS. Gomez is 4-7 with a 1.768 OPS. Choo and Odor both have six plate appearances against Tanaka with a 1.333 and 1.133 OPS respectively.

Game Two: Bibens-Dirkx vs Cessa

Bibens-Dirkx is 1-0 in his last three starts, a 4.25 ERA overall, 4.86 in his three starts.

This will be Cessa’s second start of the season, he is 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA. In his last start against Oakland he went four innings, gave up four runs on five hits and one walk, struck out four.

Neither pitcher has faced the opposing team as a starter. Cessa faced the Rangers last season when he came on in relief (of Tanaka) and got the win. He pitched three innings and Adrian Beltre hit a homer off of him in his only at bat against Cessa.

Game Three: Martinez vs Pineda

Martinez has a 2-3 record with a 4.33 ERA and is 2-2 in his last 7 starts. He last pitched a win against Toronto, going 6.1 innings and giving up one run on two hits, three walks and two strikeouts. Nick has a 1-1 record against the Yankees as a starter. He last pitched against them in June of 2016, getting the no decision after going five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and five walks.

Brett Gardner is 4-9 with two walks, a homer, and a strikeout with a 1.545 OPS. Aaron Hicks 3-4 with a walk and a homer and a 2.300 OPS.

Pineda is 7-3 with a 3.56 ERA and 4-1 in his last seven starts. His last start was a no decision against the Angels where he went 5.2 giving up three runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk, striking out seven. His last start against the Rangers in 2016 was a no decision. He went six innings, gave up one run on two hits, he walked three and struck out 12.

Napoli is 2-9 with three walks and a strikeout in his career against Pineda. Beltre is 1-11 with a walk and five strikeouts. Choo has a 1.167 OPS with a home run and two strikeouts in six at bats.

Pineda has never faced Gallo, Kozma, or Lucroy.