The Texas Rangers have battled their way back to the break-even point and look to add to their recent momentum when they square off against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
Left-hander Kyle Freeland (0-5, 6.41 ERA) will start the second contest of the three-game series for the Rockies. The Rangers will counter with right-hander Jack Leiter (2-2. 5.09).
Monday’s game was Colorado’s first under interim manager Warren Schaeffer, who was promoted from his role as third-base coach after Bud Black was fired on Sunday.
Black didn’t get on the airplane to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex after the Rockies beat San Diego 9-3 on Sunday to snap an eight-game losing streak. That win improved Colorado to 7-33 on the year.
The Rockies dropped a 2-1 decision on Monday despite out-hitting the Rangers 6-3 and getting a strong start from rookie Chase Dollander.
“It’s on all of our shoulders,” Freeland said Monday about the needed change in direction under Schaeffer. “We need to be better, and we need to continue to progress forward. I grew up with the Rockies. It does mean a ton to me.
“I’m going to be probably more proud of us as a group getting this (turnaround) done than me being a Denver kid, being able to get this team to a postseason or to a World Series.”
It would sure help if Freeland can find his form. He looks to bounce back from his worst outing of the season in which he allowed nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits in just three innings in a 10-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers on May 8.
Freeland is 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA in four career appearances against Texas. He has hurled 16 innings in those starts while giving up 13 runs (10 earned) on 21 hits and six walks with nine strikeouts.
Texas recorded its third win in a row on Monday despite failing to get a hit until the sixth inning. That hit was a two-run homer by Wyatt Langford. The Rangers also received solid relief pitching from their bullpen.
Leiter heads back to the mound after giving up four runs on three hits over 5 1/3 innings on Thursday in a 5-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox. He walked four batters and struck out three.
“I felt good, physically, mentally and I felt like preparation was all there,” Leiter said. “I got off to a start of mishaps and giving them free bases, and that kind of cost me. The walks, the hit by pitch, the wild pitch. Unfortunately, I didn’t give the team as much of a chance as I could have.”
Leiter will face the Rockies for the first time in his career.
Luke Jackson, the Rangers closer, appears to have escaped serious damage after he was hit in the right arm with a line drive in the ninth inning on Monday. The team reported that X-rays of the arm came back negative for a break.
–Field Level Media
