After a 2-4 road trip against the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, the Texas Rangers return home to Arlington to open up a brief six game game homestand. On Friday night, the Rangers open up that homestand against the Cleveland Indians - and their newly acquired ace, Ubaldo Jimenez.
The Indians acquired Jimenez prior to the trade deadline, surrendering Drew Pomeranz and Alex White as the main pieces in the trade for the Colorado Rockies. Jimenez has been inconsistent this year, pitching to the tune of a 4.46 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and .251 batting average against while still with the Rockies. Tonight's game against the Rangers will be JImenez' American League debut.
The Rangers will counter Jimenez with lefty Derek Holland, who is coming off of his fourth complete game shutout of the season. In four second half starts this season, Holland has pitched well, going 3-0 with a 2.15 ERA, .209 average against and 21 strikeouts in 29.1 innings of work against just five walks.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT.