Something Has To Give
The Texas Rangers have the most prolific offense in the majors, but lately they’ve been shut down by solid pitching.
They’ll
try and break out of their offensive funk when they face a pitcher
making his major league debut in Wednesday’s series finale against the
AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global
have made Chicago -110 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has
been set at 10 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 40% of bets for this game have been placed on Chicago -110 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Chicago (56-43) defeated
the Rangers 10-2 on Tuesday after scoring nine runs during a three-game
losing streak. The White Sox also moved 1 1/2 games ahead of
second-place Minnesota, which lost to the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
Texas
(52-49) lost for the third time in five games Tuesday, as it had little
luck against Mark Buehrle, who gave up just a solo homer to rookie
Chris Davis in 7 1-3 innings. Davis has eight homers in 22 career games.
The Rangers lead the majors with 549 runs, but have been held to two runs or less in four of their last five games.
"Pitching
stops hitting," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I keep saying that.
Nobody’s listening. Pitching stops hitting. How can you keep scoring
seven runs a night. Nobody does that in the game of baseball."
The
Rangers have a chance to get their offense back on track againstClayton Richard, whose contract was purchased from the minors on Monday
after Jose Contreras was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with
right elbow tendinitis.
Richard went 12-6 with a 2.44 ERA in the
minors this season, and won all six of his starts for Triple-A
Charlotte, striking out 29 and walking four in 38 innings for the
Knights.
The 24-year-old left-hander has already had a memorable
last few weeks, as he started the All-Star Futures Game at Yankee
Stadium on July 13. He was scheduled to pitch for the U.S. Olympic team
in Beijing, but had to be optioned to the minors by Tuesday for that to
happen.
"This is a dream in itself," Richard said. "That’s something I can’t really worry about."
The
White Sox gladly welcomed the return of Jermaine Dye to the lineup
Tuesday, as he went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Dye missed
Monday’s series-opening 6-1 loss after getting hit in the right knee by
a pitch in Sunday’s defeat to Kansas City. He was also hit by a pitch
on Saturday night.
Dye made an immediate impact, as he drove in
Carlos Quentin with two outs in the bottom of the first. Dye has been
instrumental to Chicago’s offense, batting .611 (11-for-18) with a
homer, six RBIs and nine runs in his last five games.
However, he
is batting only .190 (4-for-21) with a homer in his career against
Wednesday’s scheduled starter Kevin Millwood (6-6, 5.23 ERA), who is
looking to avoid dropping three straight starts for the first time in
three years.
Millwood gave up five runs and 11 hits in 6 1-3
innings of a 6-0 loss to Minnesota on Friday after allowing five runs
and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 9-7 defeat to Chicago on July 12. The
right-hander has not lost three straight starts in a single season
since dropping a career-worst four in a row July 2-19, 2005.
For
the most part, Millwood has pitched decent against the White Sox. He’s
posted a 2.81 ERA in eight career starts against them, but is just 1-4
in those contests.
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