It's been a nightmare road trip thus far for the Texas Rangers, losing three of four to the Minnesota Twins before being swept by the New York Yankees. On Friday night, the Rangers will hope that interleague play can spark a winning streak for Texas as the Rangers head to Atlanta to take on the Braves.
Colby Lewis will start for the Rangers - and he's been a train wreck as of late. In his last two starts, Lewis has allowed 15 earned runs on 17 hits in just four and two thirds innings. Prior to those starts, Lewis' ERA sat at 3.48 before ballooning to 4.97.
Still, Lewis' secondary numbers are still respectable for the year. Lewis has a 1.33 WHIP, .268 BAA and has struck out 59 against 23 walks in 79.2 innings. Lewis, though, has been undone by the longball, giving up 17 on the year so far.
Texas will be facing Randall Delgado of the Braves, who will be making his major league debut in place of Tommy Hanson. Delgado was ranked by Baseball America prior to this year as the 35th best prospect in baseball, and has backed that up with a solid performance at AA thus far. The 21 year old righty has pitched 73.2 innings in AA this year, striking out 64 while walking 26 and holding opponents to a .250 average.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CDT.