The Texas Rangers will look to continue their unlikely ascent in the American League playoff race as they pursue a series win over the major leagues’ top team, the Milwaukee Brewers.
The clubs will square off on Tuesday in the middle contest of a three-game interleague series in Arlington, Texas.
Texas will send rookie right-hander Jack Leiter (9-8, 3.74 ERA) to the hill. The Brewers will counter with right-hander Chad Patrick (3-8, 3.60), who will be recalled from Triple-A Nashville to make the start.
The Rangers won the series opener thanks to the bat of rookie center fielder Michael Helman, who drove in all of the runs with his first career grand slam and an RBI double in a 5-0 victory.
The Rangers (75-70) won their second straight and gained a half-game in the AL West standings on first-place Houston (78-66). Texas is in third place, 3 1/2 games behind the Astros.
Texas, which had six hits in the win, is within 1 1/2 games of the Seattle Mariners (76-68) for the AL’s final wild-card spot.
Milwaukee (89-56), which still has the best record in baseball and is in first in the National League Central by 7 1/2 games, had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Leiter had won back-to-back starts before falling in his most recent outing. He allowed two runs on three hits and three walks over six innings as the Rangers lost 2-0 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix on Wednesday.
“I really feel good right now,” Leiter said. “I would say this is definitely the most confident I’ve felt in my big-league career. You learn from the bad, and you take the good from the bad. There hasn’t been one moment or one game where the confidence has just skyrocketed necessarily — it’s just part of the process.”
Leiter struck out eight in defeat, the third straight appearance in which he fanned at least seven. He is 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA over his past 12 starts, striking out 75 in 62 1/3 innings in the process.
“It just shows you the growth of this young man,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s why Jack can be huge for us. Really, he already has. He’s always had great stuff, but now he’s just learned to harness it.”
Leiter has not faced Milwaukee in his 34-game major league career.
Patrick, also a rookie, is set for his 22nd major league outing of the year, his 21st start, but he will be opposing the Rangers for the first time. He’s looking for this first win since May 31 in Philadelphia, and the Brewers have lost his past eight starts since then.
His most recent outing in the majors was at home against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 24, when he surrendered two runs on four hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings while striking out seven in a no-decision.
In two subsequent starts for Nashville, he went 1-1 with a 1.86 ERA.
The Brewers got some positive news on the injury front when Christian Yelich returned to the lineup on Monday after missing five games because of a sore back.
“I was not worried for a second about it,” Yelich said before going 1-for-4 as Milwaukee’s designated hitter. “Yeah — I did have back surgery (last year)– so you’re going to have days where you’re a little stiffer and sore. There was not one thing that hurt it. It was just (playing) a lot in a short amount of time and wasn’t feeling the greatest.
“It’s kind of where we’re at in the season. We just wanted to make sure that everything was all good going down the stretch.”
–Field Level Media
