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The Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners start a three-game series Friday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. Texas enters the game with a three-game lead over Oakland in the AL West over Oakland after winning two of three games against Cleveland earlier this week.
Friday's game features a matchup of Japanese rookie starting pitchers. Texas will hand the ball to Yu Darvish, who is 14-9 on the season with a 4.14 ERA. Darvish has pitched well recently, going 2-0 in his last 3 starts with a 1.64 ERA and 24 strikeouts. In his three previous starts against Seattle this season, Darvish has struggled, going 1-2 with an ERA of 9.00.
Seattle will go with Hisashi Iwakuma, who is 6-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts and 14 relief appearances. He got shelled by Oakland in his last start, pitching just 3 2/3 innings and giving up 4 earned runs on 6 hits. He has yet to make a start against Texas, but gave up 3 earned runs in a 3-inning relief appearance in May.
The game is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT. Television coverage will be available on Fox Sports Southwest. The radio broadcast will be on ESPN 103.3 FM.
Head over to Lone Star Ball and SB Nation Dallas for more on the Rangers. For the Seattle perspective, check out Lookout Landing. Baseball Nation is your source for news and analysis around Major League Baseball. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel: