The Rangers will close out their season series against the Twins with a four game set in Minnesota this weekend. The Rangers are 1-2 against them this season after salvaging the series finale in Texas in late April.
The Twins are 51-54 this season and 3-7 in their last 10. They’re coming back from an eight game road trip in which they were swept by the Dodgers, dropped a series in Oakland and split a short series in San Diego.
The Rangers start the series at 51-56, going 4-6 in their last 10 after avoiding being swept by Seattle and ending a four game skid.
Because Elvis is a power hitter now, I’m just gonna start comparing him to players on other teams because what else do we have left to do? Elvis has more homers (15) than all but two Twins’ players. Sano has 25, Dozier as 17.
GAME ONE: Griffin vs Mejia
A.J. Griffin will be activated off the DL to start his first game since the end of May when he went 1.1 against Toronto before being pulled because of a left intercostal strain. Before that DL stint, Griffin had made eight starts going 4-2 with a 5.77 ERA.
Griffin has made just three starts against the Twins in his career. He’s 2-1 a 5.00 ERA. His last start against them was in 2016. Griffin got the loss after going five innings and giving up six runs on nine hits and walk.
Twins’ catcher, Jason Castro is if 6-for-18 against Griffin in his career, four of the six hits being home runs.
This will be Rookie Adalberto Mejia’s first start against the Rangers. Mejia is 4-4 with a 4.07 ERA this season and in his last eight starts he’s posted a 2.68 ERA. In his last start he went five innings against the A’s, getting the no decision after giving up two runs on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.
GAME TWO: Perez vs Colon
Perez is 0-2 with a 3.32 ERA in three career starts against the Twins. Perez is 5-9 with a 5.13 ERA on the season, 3-3 with a 6.10 ERA in his last seven starts.
Last time Perez faced the Twins, in May, he got the loss after going six innings and giving up just three runs on three hits and three walks.
Bartolo Colon will make his first start against the Rangers since 2014. He got the loss after going seven innings and giving up five runs on eight hits and two walks to the 2014 Rangers.
If you are as curious about this game as I was:
Alex Rios was in RF, Leonys Martin in CF, and Carlos Pena played 1B.
Colby Lewis started the game (and went 1-3), Neal Cotts and Tolleson pitched as well, and Soria got the save.
Even weirder, Beltre had an error in that game.
Anyway...
Colon has 34 career starts against the Rangers with a 20-9 record with a 3.57 ERA.
In 2017, Bartolo is 2-9 with a 7.70 ERA. In his last seven starts, he’s 0-5 with a 9.79 ERA.
GAME THREE: Hamels vs TBD
Hamels has six starts against Minnesota in his career, 2-1 with a 6.35 ERA. His last start against them in April, the Rangers’ only win against the Twins so far this season, he went 6.2 and gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks.
Cole is 5-1 with a 4.01 ERA.
GAME FOUR: Martinez vs TBD
Martinez is 0-1 with a 6.06 ERA in three starts against the Twins in his career. Last making a start against them in 2015 where he went just 3.2 and gave up seven runs on 11 hits. He’s 3-4 with a 5.07 ERA this season.
Bets on when we’ll see the Twins best pitcher, Chris Gimenez pitch in the series? (He’s pitched six times this season, all before the All-Star break.)