The Texas Rangers will open a six-game road trip by facing the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox on the South Side.
After a successful 4-2 homestand, the Texas Rangers will head on the road for a six-game trip beginning on Monday night.
Texas is set to do battle with the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox as they open the week on the South Side.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m., with all the action on Rangers Sports Network and on 105.3 The Fan on the radio side.
Coming into play, the Rangers are tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West despite having a record below .500 at 65-66.
If the season were to end today, Texas would be the AL’s final Wild Card team and would travel to Houston for a three-game Wild Card series since the Astros hold the season-tiebreaker between the two.
As for Monday night’s game, Kumar Rocker will take the mound for the Rangers to make his 23rd start (25th appearance) of the season.
Rocker enters play with a 4-10 record, a 4.46 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, and 109 strikeouts in 121 innings.
In his last start against the Washington Nationals at Globe Life Field on Wednesday, Rocker went five innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Back on July 21, Rocker faced the White Sox in Arlington and turned in one of his better starts of the season, going six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out six in a game Texas would win 10-0 dominantly.
That showdown would serve as the only contest the Rangers won in that series as they were outscored 14-5 in the other two games.
We don’t yet know who will be starting for the White Sox as at the time of this writing, their starting pitcher is listed as TBD.
However, we do know that left-hander Anthony Kay and right-hander Sean Burke will start the remaining two games of the season.
If the Rangers end up facing a left-hander on Monday, that may work well as they have won their last four games against southpaw starters despite struggling against them at times throughout this season.
In contrast, the Rangers lost both games on the homestand in which they faced right-handed starters.
With a win on Monday, the Rangers would push back to .500 at 66-66 and would guarantee themselves a night on top of the AL West as Houston has an off-day.
