The Texas Rangers cruised in the opening game of a 10 game road trip on Friday night, beating Brandon McCarthy and the Oakland Athletics soundly 9-1. On Saturday afternoon, the Rangers will look to extend their winning streak to two - and hopefully in the process, extend their AL West lead to three games over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Rangers will have to face off against one of Oakland's best pitchers on Saturday in the form of Trevor Cahill. Cahill, though, has been somewhat disappointing this year. While Cahill's ERA is a very solid 3.93, his WHIP sits at 1.40 headed into Saturday's contest against the Rangers. Cahill has also exceeded his walk total from last year when he walked 63 in 196.2 innings of work. This year, Cahill has issued 66 walks in 153.1 innings while only striking out 114.
For the Rangers, Colby Lewis gets the nod as he looks to pick up his 11th win of the season. Lewis pitched well in his most recent start, a no decision against the Indians. In that game, Lewis went 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out three. Texas went on to win the game.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. CDT, 1:10 locally.