By Austin McNabb
Slipping out of the AL wild card, the Texas Rangers will be desperately looking for wins and any other help they can get as they take on their division in-state rivals, the Houston Astros, at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Texas (84-71) has already won the Silver Boot against Houston (51-105) this season, with a dominant 14-2 advantage.
Rangers starting pitcher Derek Holland (9-9, 3.48 ERA) will be facing Astros pitcher Jordan Lyles (7-8, 5.26 ERA) to kick off the series tonight. Holland will be looking to end his four-game losing streak in which he has given up 20 runs. In the other dugout, Lyles will be looking to stay hot as he has won six out of his last eight starts. However, in his last outing against the Cincinnati Reds, he gave up nine runs in just 3 1/3 innings.
The Rangers are 5-15 in the month of September and have not only lost the division race to the AL West champion Oakland A’s, but have fallen out of the wild card with only seven games to clinch a spot.
The AL West last-place Astros have technically done better for the month, with a 7-14 record, but currently have lost nine in a row.
Currently in the wild-card race, Tampa Bay leads Cleveland by a half game. Outside of the two teams holding those spots, Texas is 1.5 games back, followed by Kansas City, the New York Yankees, and Baltimore.
After playing a three-game season against Houston, Texas will finish the season at home against another division rival, the AL West third-place Los Angeles Angels.
First pitch starts tonight at 7:05 CDT at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
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