Rangers Set For Pivotal Week After Tough Road Trip

Last week’s West Coast road swing represented a huge opportunity for the Texas Rangers.

After a strong homestand, the Rangers had seemingly put themselves in a good position to go on a run during a trip that featured seven games against the two teams at the bottom of the American League West.

However, Texas was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, dropping three of four to the Los Angeles Angels and two of three to the Athletics.

After the tough trip, the Rangers are now three games below .500 at 61-64 and have been knocked out of playoff position. On Monday’s off day, Texas sits two games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West and just a half game out of the final Wild Card spot currently held by the Baltimore Orioles.

This week, the Rangers will have a big opportunity to rise to the moment as they get set to begin a six-game home stand at Globe Life Field starting on Tuesday night.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will feature interleague showdowns with the Washington Nationals, while this weekend will see Texas have an opportunity to get some revenge on the Angels.

At the time of this writing, Cal Quantrill is the only confirmed starting pitcher for the home stand, as he will pitch in Tuesday night’s series opener against the Nationals. Quantrill was inserted back into the starting rotation after Nathan Eovaldi was placed on the 15-Day Injured List with right posterior elbow inflammation.

Quantrill is 4-4 with a 3.44 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and 49 strikeouts in 70.2 innings pitched this season.

In Tuesday’s game, Quantrill will be opposed by left-hander Jackson Kent. The Rangers will also see righty Cade Cavalli and lefty Andrew Alvarez in the Washington series.

Texas hopes that Jacob deGrom can make a start on Wednesday after he left his last outing with triceps fatigue.

deGrom played catch on Sunday while the Rangers were in Sacramento, and manager Skip Schumaker said the throwing went “really well.”

As for this weekend’s series against the Angels, Texas will be honoring the 1996 AL West-winning team, which gave the franchise its first postseason 30 years ago.

Several members of the team will be on hand in Arlington this weekend to be recognized at a lunch on Friday and then in a special pre-game on-field ceremony before Saturday’s game, which is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch.