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The Texas Rangers are riding high entering Sunday’s series finale against the Miami Marlins in Arlington, Texas. Five straight wins will do that for a ballclub.

“Early in the season, they responded very well,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday. “Then we had a little lull there, but they’ve been doing such a great job this second half.”

Meanwhile, the Marlins are eager to snap a three-game losing skid of their own, especially before heading into a road series at Cincinnati, starting Monday.

“We’re always trying to win,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said after his team dropped the series opener to Texas, 6-2. “These guys are playing hard. We’re just not winning right now. Nothing has changed as far as their effort level or the preparation.”

Ace Sandy Alcantara (4-9, 4.21 ERA) is Miami’s best shot when it comes to leaving Texas with a win. He is seeking his third straight outing of eight or more innings. In his last appearance, a home start against Philadelphia, the 27-year old tossed eight scoreless innings. And in the start prior to that one on July 26, he fired his second complete game of the season in a 7-1 win over Tampa Bay.

“If we have that version of Sandy in the second half, I like our chances,” Schumaker said after Alcantara’s complete game.

Against the Rays, 74 of Alcantara’s 97 pitches were strikes, and it also marked the fewest pitches thrown by a starting pitcher in a nine-inning complete game this season. With just one earned run in his past 17 innings, the right-hander will face a tough batting order on Sunday. Texas’ lineup scored seven runs combined in the fourth and fifth innings to overcome a five-run deficit in Saturday’s 9-8 win.

“With this offense, they can erupt at any time,” Bochy said following Texas’ second win of the series.

In addition to the hard-hitting lineup that the Rangers’ boast, Bochy is sending a veteran southpaw to the mound in Andrew Heaney (8-6, 4.36). The 32-year-old will be a worthy challenger for Alcantara in the pitching matchup, as Heaney comes off a six-inning, 11-strikeout performance against the White Sox on Tuesday. He allowed only two hits.

“At different times this year, I’ve felt like I’ve sort of been a two-pitch pitcher,” Heaney said following the 2-0 win over Chicago. “I felt like [Tuesday] I had all three going.”

For a starting rotation that has experienced its fair share of change this season, with the newest additions being Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery — both acquired last week just before the trade deadline — Heaney has been a constant. And after giving up 14 runs in 23 minutes over his final four starts in July, he hopes to be back on track.

“As a starting group, we haven’t been as good this last month as we were at the beginning of the season. We understand that,” Heaney recently told reporters. “That’s part of the game. There are going to be ebbs and flows.”

He has a reliable lineup behind him, leading the majors in batting average at .273, but the Marlins displayed their prowess at the plate in an eight-run showing on Saturday. Their .264 batting average ranks third in MLB, and they have tallied at least seven hits in each of the past 10 games. The hope is that their hitting can guide the Marlins back into the win column, even against a series of tough pitching staffs on the horizon.

“We’re running into some tough arms, some tough teams,” Schumaker said. “We have to figure out a way to string some wins together.”

–Field Level Media