The Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers provided plenty of drama in their series opener on Monday in Arlington, Texas. Angels star Shohei Ohtani emerged as the star of the 12-inning showdown, belting two home runs, including a go-ahead shot in the 12th.
It will be hard for the teams to match Los Angeles’ 9-6 victory on Tuesday in the second game of a four-game series. There is no doubt, though, that the Angels are one of the hottest teams in baseball, having won seven of their past eight games. The Rangers, meanwhile, have lost four of five.
Los Angeles will look to keep the momentum going behind right-hander Jaime Barria (2-2, 1.85 ERA). Barria, who opened the season as a reliever, will be making his fourth start. He is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his three previous starts.
In his most recent outing, against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, Barria allowed two runs on three hits and one walk with three strikeouts over five innings.
Barria has faced the Rangers once this season, coming out of the bullpen and allowing one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts over four innings in the Angels’ 5-4, 10-inning victory on May 5.
In his career vs. Texas, Barria is 6-3 with a 2.58 ERA in 17 games (10 starts).
As for the Angels’ offense, Ohtani continues to shine. He has five home runs in his last seven games. Monday marked his 14th career multi-home run game.
“The first game of a four-game series, big series, we had to win this game,” Ohtani told Bally Sports West through a translator. “We really wanted to win. The defense came through, the relievers came through at the end, and I’m just glad we got the victory.”
The Rangers had not yet determined a starter for Tuesday as of late Monday night. Texas manager Bruce Bochy told reporters that scheduled right-hander Jon Gray was scratched due to a blister. The Rangers view the setback as a precautionary move for Gray, who is in the midst of a career year. He is 5-1 with a 0.84 ERA over his past six starts.
“We want to stay on top of it,” Bochy said of having Gray skip a start. “We think it’s the right thing to do for Jon, plus, we don’t want to lose him for more than three or four days.”
One option to start for the Rangers on Tuesday is rookie left-hander Cody Bradford, who was with the team in Arlington on Monday.
Bradford has made two spot starts this season, going 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA. His latest major league outing was at Baltimore on May 28, when he allowed two runs on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts over five innings.
In his major league debut vs. the Atlanta Braves on May 15, Bradford gave up six runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts over five innings.
In 10 starts at Triple-A Round Rock, Bradford went 8-1 with a 1.82 ERA. Bradford grew up in Aledo, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, and joined the Rangers as a sixth-round pick out of Baylor in the 2019 draft.
Josh Jung is performing well as of late for Texas. He had two hits and three runs on Monday and is batting .336 (39-for-116) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 24 runs over his past 29 games.
–Field Level Media
