Rangers looking to put away Astros this week
The Texas Rangers’ final series this season against a team with a winning record begins tonight, and with it comes a chance to move significantly closer to the American League West crown.
Winning two of the three games against the second-place Houston Astros (75-68) would reduce the Rangers’ magic number to six. A sweep would make it four and make clinching this weekend at Globe Life Park a possibility.
The Rangers (85-59) are 5-1 this season at Minute Maid Park and 13-3 against the Astros, who have lost four of their past five games and trail the Rangers by 9 1/2 games. Houston, though, remains in the wild-card hunt.
The Rangers will have 15 games remaining after the series and will play Oakland (60-82), Los Angeles (63-79), Milwaukee 64-79 and Tampa Bay (60-82).
Probable pitchers
Monday: LHP Martin Perez (10-10, 4.25 ERA) vs. RHP Doug Fister (12-11, 4.14), 7:05 p.m. (TV: FSSW)
Tuesday: RHP A.J. Griffin (7-4, 4.92) vs. RHP Brad Peacock (0-0, 3.38), 7:05 p.m. (TV: FSSW)
Wednesday: RHP Yu Darvish (5-4, 3.28) vs. Joe Musgrove (2-4, 4.78), 7:05 p.m. (TV: FSSW)
Jeff Wilson: 817-390-7760, @JeffWilson_FWST
This story was originally published September 12, 2016 at 6:15 AM with the headline "Rangers looking to put away Astros this week."