The Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics, numbers 1 and 2 in the AL West respectively, will face each other at Ranger’s Ballpark Tuesday night. The game is scheduled to start at 8:05 p.m. ET and is the first of a three-game series.
The baseball odds list the Rangers as favorites at -190 and the Athletics at +165 with an over/under of 9.
The two teams met earlier this month in Oakland. The Oakland Athletics, who were in the midst of a slump at the time, were able to take two out of three and appear to be back on track. The Rangers quickly rebounded and have won all four games since then to take the top spot in the AL West.
After spending most of the season on top of the division, Oakland (17-15, 4-8 away) endured a 1-6 slide that allowed Texas to sneak into first place. With help from an outstanding pitching staff, Oakland has done very well and is now just a game behind Texas. Oakland’s pitchers have posted a 2.40 over the last 5 games.
The Texas Rangers (18-14, 11-6 home) are 8-2 in their last ten games heading into Tuesday night’s contest (with their two losses coming against Oakland). They began the season slowly, at one point losing six in a row. Since then, they are 13-5 and have become a surprise of the AL.
Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus heads into the game with a 10-game hitting streak and is batting .385 over the last ten games. Right fielder David Murphy had 4 doubles with a .471 batting average as Texas swept Kansas City in their most recent series.
Trevor Cahill (1-1, 5.40 ERA) will make the start for Oakland. He will be filling in for Brett Anderson, who is out with a strained forearm. The right hander earned his first win of the season last Wednesday against Texas. He pitched five innings and gave up one run. He is 4-1 with a 2.05 ERA in five starts against Texas.
Oakland will start Colby Lewis (3-1, 3.03 ERA). The right hander suffered his first loss of the season opposite Cahill Wednesday afternoon, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings. He was able to strike out 6, however, and has 44 strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings against Oakland.
