The Texas Rangers have simply had their clock cleaned by the Detroit Tigers so far through the first two games of their three game series. On Wednesday night, Texas' pleasant rotation surprise Alexi Ogando will look to cool off Detroit's bats and get the Rangers back to their winning ways.
Texas' staff gave up 20 hits last night in their loss to the Tigers. Rick Porcello and the Tigers' bullpen held Texas' offense to just one run in an 8-1 win over Texas. On Monday night, the Tigers outslugged Texas in a 13-7 victory.
Ogando will look to remain perfect on the year on Wednesday. Ogando has easily been Texas' best starter this year - something that is certainly a surprise given that he was a reliever last year and it was unknown how well he'd handle his transition to the rotation. Ogando has been nothing shy of magnificent, posting a 6-0 record to go along with a 2.20 ERA, .88 WHIP while holding opponents to a meager .187 average. Ogando has issued very few walks as his WHIP may suggest, issuing just 16 walks in 73.2 innings while striking out 53.
Texas' bats will be facing off against Phil Coke. Coke, like Ogando, is a converted reliever. Coke made 73 relief appearances for Detroit last year, and 72 for the Yankees in 2009. Thus far on the year spanning nine starts and two relief outings, Coke has a 1-5 record with a 3.81 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. Coke has only struck out 30 while walking 16 in 52 innings of work on the year as well.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT.