Rangers series preview: Cleveland Indians

Just like with the Blue Jays, the Rangers will be closing out their season series against Cleveland with a four game set. The two teams opened up the 2017 season with Cleveland sweeping Texas in three games.

Beltre comes into the series with 2,965 career hits.

The Rangers are a game over .500 at 38-37, while Cleveland is at 39-35 and a half game back of the Twins for first place of the AL central. Cleveland is 6-4 for their last ten and coming off getting swept by the Twins. The Rangers are also 6-4 for their last ten with a two game win streak.

Elvis Andrus is the obvious player to watch for this series since we all know he loves hitting in Cleveland. He has a .412 career batting average in 31 games at Progressive, 1.032 OPS, .478 OBP, and .555 slugging. He’s 49-119 with 13 walks.

For Cleveland, Encarnacio is batting .301 with a .710 slugging percentage in the last 24 games he’s played against the Rangers with 11 homers in those games (this includes postseason numbers.)

Game 1- Hamels vs Carrasco

Starting off the series, Hamels will make his first start since late April. Before going on the DL, Hamels went 2-0 with a 3.03 ERA in five starts. He got the no decision when he went six innings in the second game of the season. He gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits, one walk, one home run, and he struck out four. He’s 1-2 with two no decisions against Cleveland in his career with a 4.94 ERA in his five starts against them.

Kipnis is 3-9 with a walk against Hamels, all three hits being doubles. He has a 1.067 OPS. Encarnacion is 7-22 with two home runs, five walks and four strikeouts in his career against Cole. He has a 1.035 OPS. Austin Jackson has the second most plate appearances against Hamels, he’s 4-17 with seven strikeouts.

Carrasco is 8-3 with a 2.99 ERA in 14 starts this season. His last outing was a win against the Orioles where he threw six scoreless innings. He is 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA in his last three starts. Carrasco is 2-3 with a 5.35 ERA in fight career starts against the Rangers which is his highest ERA against any AL opponent.

With the most plate appearances against Carrasco, Elvis is 5-15 with a walk, five RBI, and a .842 OPS. Napoli is 3-6, Chirinos is 2-11, both homers, with a walk and six strikeouts. Gomez is 0-5 with three strikeouts. Gallo is 1-2 with a 2-run homer.

Game 2- Ross vs Clevinger

Tyson Ross is 1-1 in three starts against Cleveland with a 1.96 ERA. He last faced them in April of 2014 and went 5.1 and gave up seven runs (two earned) on five hits and five walks.

Clevinger has never faced the Rangers as a started. As a reliever he hasn’t given up a hit to the Rangers but Mazara has a walk.

Clevinger is 2-3 in his last seven starts with a 4.50 ERA. He’s 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA on the season. His last start was a win against Baltimore, he went 5 innings, have up two runs on six hits and four walks, struck out four.

Game 3- Davish vs Bauer

Darvish is 1-2 in five starts against Cleveland with a 3.62 ERA. His last start was Opening Day where he went 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on four hits and five walks.

Encarnacion is 7-22 with three homers, three walks, and and six strike outs in his career against Yu.

Bauer has three starts against the Rangers in his career, all three he got the no decision on. His last starts against the Rangers was June 1st of last season, he went seven innings and gave up three runs on four hits and three walks with six strike outs.

Odor has the best OPS of any Ranger against Bauer. He’s 1-3 with a homer and a walk.

Game 4- TBD vs Kluber

Kluber is 2-1 ins five starts against Texas with a 4.36 ERA. He pitched on Opening Day and got the no decisions afters going six innings and giving up five runs on six hits and three walks. He is 6-2 on the season with a 3.24 ERA. His last start against the Twins, he got the no decision after going seven innings giving up two runs (neither earned) on three hits and two walks. He struck out 13.

Rougie is 3-6 with two homers against Kluber. Beltre is 4-10 with two walks and a 1.200 OPS. Nomar is 4-9 with 1.000 OPS. Gomez is 1-5 with a home run and two walks, 1.229 OPS.