After winning back-to-back home series against San Francisco and Baltimore, the Texas Rangers continue their playoff push with a seven-game California road trip against two of the three worst teams in the majors.
The Rangers, who hold a one-game lead over the Detroit Tigers for the final American League wild-card spot, start a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels, who own the worst record in baseball, on Monday in Anaheim, Calif.
Texas follows that series with a three-game weekend set in West Sacramento against the Athletics, who have the worst run differential (minus-164) in the majors by a wide margin to go with the third-worst record.
Looks like the makings of a fun road trip. But don’t try telling that to Texas manager Skip Schumaker.
“It’s still hard to win a game,” Schumaker told MLB.com after the Rangers had a four-game win streak snapped with a 10-5 loss to the Orioles on Sunday. “(Los Angeles) is still a good team. We’re not just going to go in and win the series. You gotta beat them.
“I never think there’s a part of the schedule that’s the easier part or the harder part,” Schumaker continued. “It’s always hard, in my opinion, and so you know we got our work cut out for us in Anaheim, and let’s start there before we get to Sacramento.”
Schumaker needs only to point to his team’s 2-4 record against Los Angeles this season to make his argument. The Angels have swept exactly one series this season, and that was against the Rangers on May 22-24.
Then there’ s the matter of Monday’s starter for Los Angeles. Left-hander Reid Detmers (3-8, 4.12 ERA), still in search of his first win at Angel Stadium this season, is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts against Texas this season but flirted with a perfect game while picking up a no-decision in a 2-1 win on May 24.
Detmers struck out a career-high 14 batters and allowed one hit — a leadoff homer to Jake Burger in the second inning — over eight innings in that contest. He retired 24 of the 25 batters he faced, and finished with 23 misses on 51 swings.
He is 3-3 with a 4.44 ERA in 18 career appearances (12 starts) against the Rangers.
Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (6-9, 4.55), activated off the paternity list on Saturday, is scheduled to start for Texas.
Gore is 0-2 with a 4.82 ERA in four career starts against Los Angeles. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in five innings in his last start against the Angels, a 13-1 loss on July 8 in Arlington, Texas.
The Angels, who play 16 of their next 22 games in Anaheim, return home from a 2-4 road trip to Baltimore and Miami and come in off a 12-3 loss to the Marlins on Sunday.
It was the 73rd loss of the season for the rebuilding Angels, who are on pace for the first 100-loss season in franchise history. To avoid that, Los Angeles must go at least 18-26 in its final 44 games.
“We’re still a big league club,” shortstop Zach Neto, who had an RBI double in Sunday’s loss, told the Orange County Register. “We’ve still got a lot to play for. We come in here every single day hoping to win. We just go out there and try to play our best.”
–Field Level Media
