Rangers vs. Braves Preview
ATLANTA (AP) – The Texas Rangers’ longest skid of the season reached five with a 12-inning loss heading into interleague play, while the Atlanta Braves used extras to halt their own troubling slide.
The Braves, however, may have a few more significant concerns.
Chipper Jones may be on the shelf with a groin injury while Tommy Hanson’s tendinitis forced Atlanta to scratch the red-hot right-hander, leaving rookie Randall Delgado to make his major league debut against the Rangers on Friday night at Turner Field.
According to MLB odds and oddsmakers from online sports book Bodog have made the Braves -140 money line favorites for Friday’s game against the Rangers. Current MLB Public Betting Information shows that 81% of more than 590 bets for this game have been placed on the Rangers +132.
Atlanta (39-31) avoided a season-high fourth straight defeat Thursday against the Mets, sending the game to extra innings with Brooks Conrad’s two-run homer in the ninth.
In the 10th, Jordan Schafer’s fifth hit got Diory Hernandez from first to third with two outs, and then New York gift-wrapped a victory. D.J. Carrasco balked, allowing Hernandez to walk home and give the Braves a 9-8 win.
“For us to at least scratch one out of the series, it was a hard-fought win for us,” Conrad said.
Not all the news was good for Atlanta. Jones, who had three hits and matched a career-high with five RBIs, left in the ninth with a strained adductor muscle in his right leg and is listed as day to day.
While the loss of Jones would certainly hurt with Martin Prado already on the disabled list and Jason Heyward having just come off it, a lingering injury to Hanson would be even worse.
Hanson – whose 2.48 ERA is second in the NL only behind teammate Jair Jurrjens’ 2.13 – had won three straight starts and struck out a career-high 14 Sunday at Houston, but the Braves had to scratch him because of right shoulder tendinitis.
That means Delgado will get the call, mostly – according to general manager Frank Wren – because he was on schedule to pitch Thursday for Double-A Mississippi. About 10 minutes before he was ready to take the hill, Delgado – rated one of the three best prospects in Atlanta’s system and among the top 35 in all of baseball – was told he was heading to Turner Field.
The right-hander was 4-4 with a 3.54 ERA in 13 Southern League starts.
He’ll get a look at a Rangers offense that’s currently struggling. Texas (36-34) is hitting .198 and has one home run during its skid, which reached five in Thursday’s 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Yankees.
“It’s frustrating to underachieve consistently,” outfielder David Murphy told the Rangers’ official website. “We know we’re going to come out of it sooner or later, but when you’re in the midst of a streak like this, you want to get it over with … you want to get the bad taste out of your mouth.”
Facing an NL team may be all Josh Hamilton needs. The reigning AL MVP has hit safely in 23 straight interleague games and is batting .528 with four homers and 14 RBIs in his last 12.
There may not be much on-field history between Atlanta and Texas – the Rangers were swept during their lone previous trip to Turner Field, in 2003 – but the teams made a significant trade in July 2007. This will be the first look former Braves prospects Matt Harrison, Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz have at Atlanta since being dealt to Texas for Mark Teixeira.
Harrison will start Saturday, but in the series opener Colby Lewis (5-7, 4.97 ERA) will look to bounce back from two atrocious outings. The right-hander gave up nine runs over 3 1-3 innings June 6 against Detroit, then lasted just 1 1-3 innings while surrendering six runs in Saturday’s 8-1 loss at Minnesota.
Lewis, who has never faced Atlanta, is 3-2 with a 2.60 ERA in five interleague starts over the last two seasons.
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