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It’s the end of July and we finally get to see Opening Day at the new ballpark! Who would’ve thought we’d get here?
The Texas Rangers will open the 2020 season against the Colorado Rockies, their “interleague rival” according to MLB who decided when it came to interleague play teams would play their rival six games out of the 20 games. Since Oakland and San Francisco and the Dodgers and Angels are natural rivals, it kinda ruined for the rest of the West but here we are.
Now we’ve already seen these two teams play each other in two exhibitions games this week and it was less than great for the Rangers. But here’s hoping with the aces on the mound, the bats find a way to back them up.
On Friday will see two pitchers make their first ever Opening Day starts — German Marquez for the Rockies and Lance Lynn for the Rangers. This will be Lynn’s first start against the Rockies since 2017, and over seven starts in his career against Colorado, he is 2-2 with a 2.76 ERA. This will be the first regular season start the Rangers have had against Marquez.
In the late afternoon game on Saturday, the Ranger’s will have their All-Star Pitcher, Mike Minor, on the mound. In his career against Colorado, Minor doesn’t have the best ERA against the Rockies, sporting a 5.24 in seven starts and two relief appearances. However, in the the lineup he’ll be facing, the only player to have a batting average against him higher than .000 is Chris Owings, who has a homer in five ABs against Minor.
Minor will be going up right-hander Jon Gray, who the Rangers faced on Fathers’ Day in 2018. Gray and the Rockies had a four-run lead through five innings of that game, though the tide turned quickly and the Rangers ended up winning 13-12. Shin-Soo Choo and Danny Santana each have a batting average of .333 against Gray in three at-bats, Todd Fraizer is batting 1.000, Jeff Mathis and Isiah Kiner-Felefa each bat .500 in two at-bats.
Opening Series will end on Sunday in an afternoon game. Corey Kluber will make his debut as a Ranger, in what will be the first time pitching in a game sine May 1 of last year when he was hit by a line drive that fractured his right arm in a game against the Marlins. The Rangers will face left-hander Kyle Freeland who had a 3-11 record, 6.73 ERA in 22 starts last season.