Series Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks at Texas Rangers (8/13-8/14)

The Arizona Diamondbacks continue their road trip with a two-game interleague series against the Texas Rangers.

After dropping the first two games of their three-game series against Cincinnati, the Arizona Diamondbacks avoided a sweep by taking Game 3. In their 9-2 victory, Paul Goldschmidt homered twice for the D-Back offense while Zack Godley picked up the win on the mound.

Now, they’ll continue their road trip with a quick, two-game interleague series against the Texas Rangers.

In-Depth Series Preview:

(odds courtesy of OddsShark)

Who: Arizona Diamondbacks (65-54) at Texas Rangers (52-68)

When: Monday, August 13th through Tuesday, August 14th

Where: Globe Life Park in Arlington, Arlington, TX

Head to Head: Arizona is 1-1 vs. Texas this year.

World Series Odds: Arizona (+1800); Texas (+90000)

Local TV: Rangers (Fox Sports Southwest); Diamondbacks (Fox Sports Arizona)

Local Radio: Rangers (KRLD 105.3 FM); Diamondbacks (KMVP 98.7 FM)

National TV: All games are available to MLB.tv subscribers.

National Radio: All games are available to MLB.tv or MLB Gameday Audio subscribers. Right now, MLB.tv is just $49.99 for the remainder of the season or $24.99 monthly. MLB Gameday Audio is included with MLB.tv but you can also subscribe separately for $19.99/mo.

Series Schedule: 

• Mon, August 13th: ARI at TEX, 8:05 ET
• Tues, August 14th: ARI at TEX, 8:05 ET

Projected Starters:

• Mon, August 13th: Greinke (12-7) vs. Colon (6-10)
• Tues, August 14th: Corbin (9-4) vs. Gallardo (7-1)

Expert Scoop on Texas:

"“Texas currently is looking to solidify their core group of players moving forward in their rebuild. Since the All-Star break, Rougned Odor is hitting .367 and is showing fans what his potential is. The Rangers show they have no problem scoring runs but they still lack severely with starting pitching.”–Kenneth Nash, site expert at Nolan Writin’, FanSided’s home for everything Rangers."

Key Injuries:

• Arizona: OF, Jarrod Dyson (OUT); 3B, Jake Lamb (OUT)
• Texas: OF, Ryan Rua (OUT); OF, Nomar Mazara (OUT)

Old Friends:

• Jake Diekman: At the most recent trade deadline, Diekman was traded from the Rangers to the D-Backs.
• Jerry Narron: The current bench coach for Arizona used to be the manager for Texas in the early 2000’s. He went 134-162 in his time on the Rangers’ bench. Before his time as manager, he was the third-base coach for Texas from 1995-2001.

Stat Nerds:

• Robbie Ray broke his hitless streak in his most recent start against the Reds. Now, he’s 1-for-27 on the season.
• As of August 12th, Ketel Marte is the only MLB player with at least 10 singles, doubles, triples, and home runs in 2018.
• With one more home run, Daniel Descalso will set a career-high for home runs in a season. He currently has 10, the same as he had last year for Arizona.
• John Ryan Murphy is hitless in his last 29 at-bats.

Fun Stuff:

• Arizona, now in first place, currently holds a one-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West standings.
• Per manager Torey Lovullo, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt will DH in at least one game against Texas.