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Houston at Texas Arlington, 7:05 pm (CT)
TV: CSN Houston
Radio: KBME 790 AM, KLAT 1010 AM
Rangers SBNation Blog: Lone Star Ball
Pitching Match
RHP Lucas Harrell (5-8 / 4.59 ERA / 1.56 WHIP) vs. RHP Nick Tepesch (3-6 / 4.71 ERA / 1.33 WHIP)
Preview
The Rangers currently sit a half game behind the A's, who are atop the American League standings. Texas played almost exactly .500 baseball in the month of June (13-14). The Rangers come in after dropping the series with Seattle, they were outscored 17-7 by the M's.
Taking a look at the Rangers' lineup over the past few days - Andre Beltre has been red hot over his last seven games, batting .400 (10-25) with two homeruns and three runs batted in. Leonys Martin has 8 stolen bases over his last 10 starts. Ian Kinsler hasn't been the same since his collison at home with A's catcher John Jaso on June 18. Over the last 10 games, the Rangers second baseman has been batting .184 (7-38) with one home run and five runs batted in.
On the mound today for the Rangers is Nick Tepesch. Tepesch made the jump from double-a to the majors out of spring camp. Since then, his ERA has slowly risen from 2.53 in April, 4.94 in May, and 5.97 in June. In his last start, Tepesch lasted only four innings against the Reds and gave up four runs on six hits. On May 12, the Astros faced the Texas right-hander and made him look like Cy-Young. Houston mustered only a single run during Tepesch's six innings on the mound. Jason Castro's solo homerun was the lone run.
Lucas Harrell hopes to put his tough no-decision (7 IP, 1 ER, 7 SO) against the Angels behind him in Arlington tonight. Harrell closed out the month of June with 5 quality starts in six chances. The right-hander made the Astros' second start of the season against Texas - holding the Rangers to one runs over six innings. Adrian Beltre has a carrer batting average of .500 (5-100 against Harrell with four runs batted in. Ian Kinsler is 2-for-9 with three strikeouts against the right-hander lifetime.
