The Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics are playing on the MLB schedule on Monday night at O.co Coliseum and the game starts up at 10:05 pm ET from California as Colby Lewis and Drew Pomeranz face off in the pitching matchup and this game is an AL West battle before Yu Darvish takes the mound on Tuesday night.
The Athletics come into the game after a win against the Yankees on Sunday and they are one of the best teams in baseball and have been leading the AL West all season and they are looking to continue their dominance over Texas. The A's are ranked second in the league in runs scored this season and third in on base percentage and the team is also seventh in slugging and 18th in batting average. The offense has been getting production from players like Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson and the pitching has been even better, ranking first in the league in ERA, WHIP and BAA and they are also second in quality starts. Scott Kazmir has been excellent and so far all the moves Billy Beane made in the offseason have paid off and they once again look like a playoff team.
The Athletics have been mashing home runs and they are second only to the Toronto Blue Jays in that category and the team got two three run jacks against the Yankees early on Sunday. The team is more than 20 games over .500 when they hit a homerun and they face off against Lewis in the game, who has given up just six home runs in his 58 innings pitched this season and that could put the team in a tough spot. Pomeranz has pitched well at home this season and he is 3-0 with a sub-3.00 ERA and this will be his first chance to pitch against the division rival.
The Rangers come into the game after a loss against the Seattle Mariners and that was won by Hisashi Iwakuma and he now is 5-3 on the season and the Rangers right now are fourth in the AL West. The team is ranked 14th in runs scored and fourth in batting average and they need to get their pitching together after being ranked 29th in ERA and in the bottom of the league in quality starts, WHIP and BAA.
Check here for the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics live coverage from the MLB.
