Texas Rangers Series Preview vs. San Diego Padres

Coming off their first series win of the 2021 season, the Rangers finish off the homestand with a three game series against the San Diego Padres.

Lucky for the Rangers, they won’t have to face Fernando Tatis Jr. and his grand slam swing on a 3-0 count as he was put on the 10-day IL for left shoulder inflammation on Tuesday after leaving Monday’s game with a with a left shoulder subluxation.

They will however see a few friendly faces in Keone Kela and Jurickson Profar and just miss a Yu Darvish start.

GAME ONE

Kohei Arihara will make his second MLB start, his first at home, to begin the series. He allowed three runs on six hits in five innings in his outing against the Royals last weekend.

RHP Joe Musgrove will face the Rangers for the first time since 2017. In seven career games against Texas, Musgrove has a 4.76 ERA in 28.1 innings and 7.9 k/9. He pitched six scoreless innings in his 2021 debut and struck out eight against Arizona.

GAME TWO

Jordan Lyles will look to build off his stellar first start as he makes his first home start of the season. He’s faced the Padres 15 times in his career, including one start last year. In 2020, he went just four innings and gave up seven runs, six earned, on seven hits and a walk. He has a career 5.34 ERA and 4.9 k/9 against San Diego.

Texas-native Chris Paddack will make his second career start against the Rangers, first one in Texas, on Saturday. He gave up one run in six innings off four hits and two walks in that decision. The one run? Rougned Odor with one out in the second inning.

In Paddack’s 2021 debut, he went four innings against the Diamondbacks and gave up three runs, two earned, on four hits and three walks.

GAME THREE

In the series finale, Mike Foltynewicz will look for redemption after his four runs on four hits in four innings appearance against the Royals. Foltynewicz has faced the Padres four times in his career and has a 5.06 ERA and 6.8 k/9 in his career against them. He last faced San Diego in 2019 where he went 4.2 innings and gave up six runs, just two earned, on eight hits.

The Rangers will face southpaw Adrian Morejon. Morejon pitched three scoreless innings against the Rangers last year, giving up just one walk and striking out four. In his 2021 debut versus San Francisco, he went four innings and gave up two runs on five hits and a walk. Both runs were solo home runs.