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Rangers have opportunity this week with series against waning Reds

The Texas Rangers will go for a fifth consecutive series win as they venture to Ohio to take on the National League’s Cincinnati Reds.
Credit: AP
Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien is congratulated after scoring against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

ARLINGTON, Texas — The oldest franchise in Major League Baseball finds itself falling on hard times, again. Coming off a 100-loss season, the Cincinnati Reds appear to be headed for another disappointing campaign after finishing no higher than third place in the National League Central since winning the division in 2012.

To make a long story short, nothing has clicked for the Reds so far in 2023 and the Rangers have a chance to capitalize on that this week in Cincinnati. Perhaps the best thing that the Reds have going for them in this series is they will get to miss Jacob deGrom, as he pitched for Texas on Sunday.

Where Cincinnati’s coming from

The Reds are currently in the midst of a 6-game losing streak, having lost the final two games in a series against Tampa Bay and then getting swept in a four-game set by division-rival Pittsburgh. They’ve mustered a grand total of 14 runs over the last seven games; with eight of those coming in the opener of the series against the Rays. Their pitchers’ ERA in that time has hovered around 5.00.

The Cincy defense has been shoddy as well. In terms of ground balls converted to outs, the Reds are sitting at 64.1%, which is dead last in the majors. By comparison, the league average is 74%. The Reds well into the negatives in runs prevented and outs above average and their second baseman, shortstop, and third baseman all rank near the bottom of their respective positions defensively.

Against a team like the Rangers who have succeeded at putting the ball in play early in the season, the Reds will be tested.

The Rangers will also see the Reds absent their franchise player as first baseman Joey Votto has yet to make his season debut and has been recovering from left shoulder surgery performed back in August.

In his place, the Reds signed 2013 Rookie of the Year Wil Myers. Myers, however, has been mired in a slump since April 16, a game in which Cincinnati lost to the Phillies 14-3. Since then, the 32-year-old has gone 1-for-22 with ten strikeouts. For the season, Myers is slashing .203/.272/.311.

Things to watch for

● Game 22, 5:40 PM CT: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (2-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. LHP Nick Lodolo (2-1, 4.98 ERA)

● Game 23, 5:40 PM CT: LHP Martin Perez (3-1, 3.38 ERA) vs. RHP Luke Weaver (0-1, 6.00 ERA)

● Game 24, 11:35 AM CT: RHP Jon Gray (1-1, 3.72 ERA) vs. RHP Graham Ashcraft (2-0, 1.88)

The aces of both staffs will not pitch this series, but Texas will send Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez and Jon Gray to the hill at Great American Ballpark. Eovaldi and Perez are coming off wins in their last outings, both against Kansas City and both with the Rangers’ offense scoring 12 runs apiece for them. Gray will look to bounce back, coming off of the one loss Texas suffered to Oakland in which he gave up four runs (three earned) over 5.1 innings.

Texas will see Graham Ashcraft in the series finale on Wednesday. Ashcraft was the Reds’ seventh ranked prospect prior to his debut last year. The 25-year old has put together an impressive 2023 already, going 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA, all against hefty opponents Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Featuring a triple-digit fastball, sinker, cutter and recently developed slider, Ashcraft, along with Hunter Greene, are forming a pretty nice 1-2 punch at the top of the Reds’ rotation.

The Texas offense has played three series on the road – one in Chicago, one in Houston, and one in Kansas City. Their slash line on the road is several points lower than at home, but it’s still not anything to cringe at – .242/.331/.384 on the road compared to .277/.350/.476 at home.

The Rangers are hot at the plate right now, as well. Even in their loss to Oakland, Texas put together a four-run 1st inning. Texas, going into the series against the Reds, leads the majors in home runs with men on base (19), batting average with RISP (.372) and slugging with RISP (.650). Several Rangers are on on-base streaks – Marcus Semien is on a 9-game streak, Robbie Grossman on a 6-game streak, Jonah Heim on a 12-game streak, and Josh Jung just had a 10-game hitting streak end on Sunday.

This will be the last series Texas plays on their “soft” schedule for a bit. After Cincinnati, the Rangers will play the 13-9 New York Yankees, first place Arizona Diamondbacks, and division rivals Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners before getting a reprieve against Oakland again.

Texas, sitting 2.5 games in first place over Houston right now, would be well advised to take advantage of the floundering Reds this week.

Do you see the Rangers padding their division lead in Cincy this week? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.

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