The Texas Rangers look to build on a thrilling win when they clash with the suddenly swooning Detroit Tigers on Saturday in the middle game of a three-game set in Arlington, Texas.
The game will feature a battle of 25-year-old right-handers on the mound as Keider Montero (4-1, 4.02 ERA) will start for the Tigers against Kumar Rocker (3-4, 6.39) for Texas.
The Rangers won the series opener 2-0 on Friday when Corey Seager ripped a two-out, two-run double in the eighth inning to provide the winning margin.
Texas has won three of its past four contests while the Tigers, who own the best record in the majors, have dropped a season-high five straight games.
“Our guys are ready to play the whole schedule,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said Friday when asked about the losing streak. “I’ve said that when we’ve been counted out and down, and I’ve said that when we’ve been the hottest team in baseball. My job is to keep these guys humble and hungry.”
The Tigers managed just four singles and left five on base against four Texas pitchers on Friday, wasting the solid start of Reese Olson, who held the Rangers to two hits and a walk with six strikeouts in five innings of work. Detroit was shut out for sixth time this season and for the first time since June 25.
Rocker suffered his most uneven performance of the year while recording a no decision in his last time out, allowing six runs on six hits (three of them home runs) and a walk over 4 1/3 innings on July 9 in a game the Rangers lost 11-8 to the Angels in Anaheim, Calif. That snapped a stretch of four straight starts in which he lasted at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer.
“Rocker had been pitching well, locating the ball better and pounding the strike zone but he got away from that a little against the Angels,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s great how he’s turned things around (this season) — he’s been giving us a chance to win and that’ll you can ask.”
Rocker has never faced the Tigers in his 14-game major league career.
Montero has been nothing but solid for Detroit while jumping back and forth from Triple-A Toledo to Detroit — and from the starting rotation to the bullpen. He has either a win or a no decision in six of his seven starts this year and comes into Saturday after allowing three runs on five hits and a walk over a three-inning relief stint in a game the Tigers lost at home 15-7 to Seattle on July 12.
Before that, Montero posted a win at home against Tampa Bay on July 7, surrendering one run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in his first start since June 1.
It will be the 25-year-old Montero’s first career appearance against the Rangers.
–Field Level Media
