On May 18, the Rangers suffered a series sweep at the hands of the Athletics, dropping to 22-19. Since then, the Rangers have won 80 percent -- 80 percent! -- of their games. They’re 24-6 in their last 30 games, and they’re currently riding a seven-game winning streak. As a result, the Rangers enter play Tuesday 9.5 games ahead of the Mariners in first place in the AL West. Only the Cubs with 47 wins have achieved victory more often than the Rangers (46).
The Rangers have done this with DH Prince Fielder putting up a .583 OPS, Yu Darvish only being healthy enough to make three starts, Mitch Moreland having a down year, and Derek Holland pitching poorly. There hasn’t been any one particular player who has been shouldering most of the workload; rather, it’s been players like Jurickson Profar coming up and performing well (.873 OPS), Ian Desmond overcoming a slow start (.867 OPS), Colby Lewis having a career year (2.81 ERA), and Cole Hamels doing what he was brought to Arlington to do (2.88 ERA).
Lewis will toe the slab at 8:05 PM EDT on Tuesday night as the Rangers host Anthony DeSclafani and the Reds. Lewis flirted with a perfect game his last time out.
The rest of Tuesday’s action...
Colorado Rockies (Chad Bettis) @ New York Yankees (Ivan Nova), 7:05 PM EDT
San Diego Padres (Luis Perdomo) @ Baltimore Orioles (Tyler Wilson), 7:05 PM EDT
San Francisco Giants (Johnny Cueto) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (Wilfredo Boscan), 7:05 PM EDT
Arizona Diamondbacks (Patrick Corbin) @ Toronto Blue Jays (Marco Estrada), 7:07 PM EDT
Atlanta Braves (Bud Norris) @ Miami Marlins (Jose Fernandez), 7:10 PM EDT
Chicago White Sox (Chris Sale) @ Boston Red Sox (Clay Buchholz), 7:10 PM EDT
Kansas City Royals (Ian Kennedy) @ New York Mets (Bartolo Colon), 7:10 PM EDT
Seattle Mariners (James Paxton) @ Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander), 7:10 PM EDT
Tampa Bay Rays (Blake Snell) @ Cleveland Indians (Corey Kluber), 7:10 PM EDT
St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright) @ Chicago Cubs (Jason Hammel), 8:05 PM EDT
Los Angeles Angels (Hector Santiago) @ Houston Astros (Collin McHugh), 8:10 PM EDT
Philadelphia Phillies (Aaron Nola) @ Minnesota Twins (Tyler Duffey), 8:10 PM EDT
Milwaukee Brewers (Jimmy Nelson) @ Oakland Athletics (Sonny Gray), 10:05 PM EDT
Washington Nationals (Tanner Roark) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (Scott Kazmir), 10:10 PM EDT