The Texas Rangers (29-17) will look to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Oakland Athletics (25-22) this afternoon in their home ballpark. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m., and this game can be live streamed for free here or with a subscription at MLB.com. Rangers fans can listen to the game at 103.3 ESPN while A's backers can hear all the fun at 95.7 The Game.
The Texas Rangers entered this series as the big baddies in the American League West, and while they are still in first place the Athletics have reminded Texas who knocked them off their perch late last season. The deep, mostly star-free A's have defeated Texas in different ways this week as well.
In Game 1 of the series, Oakland broke out the sticks and smashed everyone Texas threw at them in a 9-2 laugher. Last night, youngster Daniel Straily outdueled one of the hottest pitchers in baseball, Yu Darvish, and the A's stymied the Rangers' powerful offense in a 1-0 win.
Straily had struggled this season prior to last night's great game, and today's starter, Jarrod Parker (2-5, 6.04) is looking to duplicate his rotation mate's success. After getting blasted early in the season, he's seen some improvement of late; in his last four starts he has gone 2-1 with a 4.07 ERA. While that is unspectacular, any improvement is good to see.
Parker's last start against the Kansas City Royals was his best start yet, and A's manager Bob Melvin is hoping Parker can build off that performance. "Parker, just getting him on track, it looked like he was more confident. Hopefully that's a springboard."
A's outfielder Yoenis Cespedes also seems to be breaking through his plate troubles. In his last seven days, Cespedes has hit .250 with two home runs, three RBI and an .875 on base plus slugging percentage. He also socked a homer off Darvish last night, which proved to be the only run either team scored.
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