Texas @ Los Angeles preview
Angel Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 20, 2010 ) Texas 4, LA Angels 7
The Texas Rangers aren’t going to be celebrating on the defending champions' turf.
The Los Angeles Angels rolled to 7-4 victory over Texas on Monday in the opener of the three-game series at Angels Stadium, eliminating any possibility that the current AL West-leading Rangers would clinch the title in Anaheim this week.
The Rangers’ magic number remained at six after Monday’s loss. The teams meet again on Tuesday night as Texas sends right-hander Colby Lewis to the mound against Los Angeles right-hander Ervin Santana.
Lewis has certainly been one of the key parts to the Rangers’ success this season.
In his last start against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, Lewis went six innings, allowing five runs - two earned - and four hits for his career-high 11th win. It was his second straight victory after a stretch in which he had nine consecutive winless starts.
Texas’ nine runs were pleasing to Lewis, who had received four-or-less runs of support in 13 of his previous 14 starts.
Lewis is 3-1 with a 5.34 in seven career games against the Angels. He last faced the club in 2007 when he was with the A’s.
David Murphy finished with five hits, while Julio Borbon and Vladimir Guerrero also had multi-hit games on Monday.
Still, the Rangers went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.
Santana, meanwhile, has pitched well of late for the Angels. He has won six of his past seven outings, and has allowed three-or-less runs in seven of his last eight starts.
In his last start against the Cleveland Indians, Santana allowed two runs and four hits in eight innings. He took a no-decision in that game, snapping what had been a streak of three consecutive wins.
Santana is 10-6 with a 5.79 ERA in 18 career starts against the Rangers. This season, he is 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts against Texas.
Offensively, the Angels scored seven runs on 11 hits on Monday. In the fourth, Los Angeles scored three runs on doubles from Jeff Mathis, Howie Kendrick and Bobby Abreu. Torii Hunter also had a two-run single later in the game.