
Pittsburgh Pirates (13-9, third in the NL Central) vs. Texas Rangers (11-11, second in the AL West)
PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Carmen Mlodzinski (1-0, 1.77 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 20 strikeouts); Rangers: Kumar Rocker (0-1, 4.30 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 14 strikeouts)
LINE: Rangers -120, Pirates +100; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Texas Rangers host the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday to open a three-game series.
Texas has an 11-11 record overall and a 3-3 record at home. Rangers pitchers have a collective 3.58 ERA, which ranks fourth in the AL.
Pittsburgh is 13-9 overall and 5-4 on the road. The Pirates have the second-best team ERA in baseball at 3.22.
The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting this season between the two teams.
TOP PERFORMERS: Brandon Nimmo leads the Rangers with a .311 batting average, and has five doubles, a triple, four home runs, nine walks and 11 RBIs. Josh Jung is 14 for 37 with two home runs and seven RBIs over the past 10 games.
Oneil Cruz has five doubles and six home runs for the Pirates. Marcell Ozuna is 11 for 42 with two doubles and two home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 4-6, .246 batting average, 4.38 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs
Pirates: 6-4, .262 batting average, 3.09 ERA, outscored opponents by 19 runs
INJURIES: Rangers: Jordan Montgomery: 60-Day IL (elbow), Carter Baumler: 15-Day IL (ribs), Cody Freeman: 10-Day IL (back ), Chris Martin: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Cody Bradford: 60-Day IL (elbow), Luis Curvelo: 15-Day IL (biceps)
Pirates: Jared Triolo: 10-Day IL (knee), Jared Jones: 60-Day IL (elbow)
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
