Texas Rangers vs. Minnesota Twins

The Texas Rangers foibles cost them first-place heading to the All-Star break for the first time since the previous decade, but with 13 of their next 16 games at home, they hope to get back on track.

The Rangers (48-39) dropped three out of four games on the road to the Seattle Mariners leading up to the All-Star break, but have had much success in the Rangers Ballpark, going 28-17 in the first half, including a current winning streak of five games there.

They will face a challenge as the Minnesota Twins (45-44) will be their first challenger of the second half. The Minnesota Twins have been at, around or a bit over .500 through the entire first half, but usually save their best baseball for the second half of the season.

If they want to make their usual run to the postseason, Minnesota needs to get better away from the Metrodome. They have gone 17-24 on the road this season, although they had a successful road trip the last time they were away from home, winning six of nine over Milwaukee, St. Louis and Kansas City.

One of the major storylines that will dominate baseball in the second half is Twins All-Star catcher Joe Mauers assault on hitting .400. He picked up where he left off in the All-Star game, hitting an RBI double, but had perhaps his worst game of the season on Sunday when he went 0-for-5, including a career-high five strikeouts.

The struggling may continue for Mauer as he has hit just .167 with just two hits in 12 at-bats against Texas starter Vicente Padilla (7-4, 4.53).

Padilla last took the mound on July 8, giving up one run on eight hits in six innings of an 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

Minnesota will counter with Glen Perkins (4-5, 4.71), who last started on Saturday, picking up the loss in the 8-7 set back to the Chicago White Sox when he allowed five runs on eight hits in just 4 1/3 innings.

The left-hander hopes to have better luck against Texas, who he won twice against no losses with a 1.46 ERA last season against them.

Minnesota is currently in third-place, a half game behind Chicago for second and four behind the first-place Detroit Tigers.

The Texas Rangers trail the first-place Angels by two games and are three games ahead of third place Seattle.

Click here for more Baseball Betting Lines and Online Sports Betting Lines.

---

---

Comments