The Texas Rangers need a bounce back from a dismal offensive performance against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.
Unfortunately, they have precious few historical matchups to exploit against Saturday’s starter, right-hander Edward Cabrera.
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The Rangers mustered just two hits against Cubs pitching on Friday, in a game that amounted to a bullpen contest for Chicago. The Rangers’ (17-21) only run in the game came on an RBI single by Justin Foscue, who went viral for a big defensive mistake when he went in to play at second base.
The Rangers should have a little bit more consistency in their lineup as Cabrera is a pitcher they can expect to throw at least five innings as the starter. But Texas needs to turn things around. The Rangers are on the verge of losing their fifth straight series and have lost 10 of their last 15 games. The Cubs are red hot. They’ve won 10 games in a row and show no signs of slowing down.
Friday’s two-hit game only exacerbated the team’s woes offensively at home. Texas is trying to stay within striking distance of the Athletics in a moribund American League West.
The Rangers enter Saturday’s game three games back of the Athletics, but just one-half game back of the final AL wild card berth. But as Texas has lost its last two games, both the Athletics and the second-place Seattle Mariners have each of their last two games.
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Rangers Lineup on May 9
RF Brandon Nimmo (L)
SS Corey Seager (L)
3B Josh Jung
CF Evan Carter (L)
DH Joc Pederson (L)
1B Justin Foscue
LHP Jack Leiter
The Rangers hit her with the most experience against Cabrera is Brandon Nimmo, which makes sense because Nimmo played for the Mets for nearly a decade and their rivals with Cabrera’s former team, the Miami Marlins. Nimmo has a robust .375 batting average against Cabrera but has only driven in one run in 16 at bats.
Only two other batters on the active roster have at least one at-bat against Cabrera. One is Andrew McCutchen, who has just one at-bat against him without a hit. The other is Joc Pederson, who has only faced him four times but has a .500 batting average with an RBI. It makes sense that the two left-handed hitters with the most success against Cabrera would be in the lineup.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/rangers/onsi as Rangers Lineup vs. Cubs: Struggling Texas Infielder Gets Day Off.
