Tampa Bay @ Texas preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 1, 2011 ) Texas 3, Tampa Bay 0

THE STORY: The Texas Rangers survived a difficult 17-day stretch without a day off before Monday, going 10-7, but now they face another obstacle. Slugging left fielder Nelson Cruz will miss about three weeks with a strained left hamstring. Cruz was 8-for-12 in the series against the Los Angeles Angels before the injury Sunday as the Rangers pushed their lead to three games in the American League by winning two of three. The Rangers will soldier on, starting a three-game set Tuesday against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. The Rangers, who beat the Rays three games to two in the AL Divisional Series last season, won two of three games in Tampa Bay on May 30-June 1.

TV: 8:05 p.m. ET; SunSports (Tampa Bay), FS-SW (Texas).

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeremy Hellickson (11-9, 3.01 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Scott Feldman (0-0, 3.94 ERA).

Hellickson has lost two of his last three starts, but has only allowed six runs in 19 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs over seven innings in his last outing against Detroit on Thursday before taking the loss. Hellickson has struck out 102 and walked 52 in 149 1/3 innings and teams are batting .216 overall against him. Hellickson has never faced Texas.

Feldman makes his first start of the season after pitching 16 innings out of the bullpen, coming back from offseason microfracture surgery on his right knee. He threw four shutout innings in his last outing against Boston on Thursday. Feldman made 78 starts the previous three seasons, going 30-27 overall. He is 3-1 lifetime against Tampa Bay with a 1.73 ERA over 26 innings.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (76-59): Texas may be without Cruz for a while, but third baseman Adrian Beltre is close to returning. Beltre, who had 20 homers and 76 RBIs before a hamstring injury July 22, started a rehab assignment Monday at Triple-A Round Rock. The Rangers registered 24 runs in the three-game series against the Angels. Michael Young, second in the AL with a .336 batting average, was 4-for-11 against the Angels and Mike Napoli was 4-for-10. Aside from Cruz, Elvis Andrus may have had the best series – going 5-for-13 with two RBIs and a stolen base.

ABOUT THE RAYS (73-60): Tampa Bay, which has won 14 of its last 20 games, is now 7 ½ behind the Yankees in the wild-card race after losing Monday at Toronto. The Rays still scored 27 runs, winning three of four in the series. Desmond Jennings continues to impress, going 14-for-30 with three homers and five RBIs in the last seven games. His on-base percentage is .now 439. Sean Rodriguez also had a good series in Toronto, going 4-for-10 with a homer and four RBIs. Matt Joyce had a seven-game hit streak snapped Monday. Ben Zobrist is just 5-for-35 his last eight games.

FINAL PITCH: The Rangers will skip starting pitcher Matt Harrison (10-9) in the rotation after three poor starts, where he allowed 14 earned runs in 14 2/3 innings. Harrison is expected to start again Sept. 4 in Boston after 11 days off.