The Texas Rangers will bring what they can to the table as they hope to return to the photo of the American League Joker on Saturday when they face the Miami Marlins who face Arlington, Texas.
Miami will send Adam Mazur (0-4, 4.85 ERA) to the mound against Jack Leiter du Texas (9-9, 3.82) in a battle of right-handers.
The Marlins (74-80) won the first match in the series on Friday, a decision of 6-4 after Jakob Marsee, Brian Navarreto and Dane Myers each had a lot of sure in the 12th round.
Miami succeeded in Rangers 14-4 but failed 13 runners. The Marlins also had to survive a return to Texas in 10th round to display their fourth consecutive and eighth victory in the last nine outings.
The Rangers (79-75) abandoned their fifth consecutive match and lost ground in the race for a joker point. Texas has five games on the pace established by Houston and Boston for the last place in playoffs with eight games to play.
The Texas used nine launchers in defeat, two of which – Lefts Jacob Latz and Patrick Corbin – who could have started on Saturday or Sunday. Corbin, who absorbed defeat on Friday, had not presented relief since 2017.
“You are playing the game,” said Texas manager Bruce Bochy about the state of mind of his team to move forward. “No matter what’s going on, we all have a job to do, and he came out, play hard, play for nine rounds. This is what we will do. You know, we don’t know what can happen. It was certainly difficult (to lose Friday) but, you know, we were leaving, be ready to go tomorrow.”
Mazur, who spent the majority of the season in Triple-A Jacksonville, will take the ball for the sixth time this season and the 13th of his career in the major league. His first four outings of 2025 produced light points, but only one victory for the Marlins, which led Clayton McCullough, manager of Miami, to say that the best comes from Mazur.
“First, that’s it,” said McCullough about Mazur’s talent. “To what extent are the things that are maintained throughout the exit? The possibility of throwing several locations in the striking area if you are late in the count, then, on the whole, in the possibility of filling the area.
“Can you miss you? And it will always start with the possibility of accessing the striking area, and if you can do it with several offers, just gives you a chance to keep unbalanced strikers.”
Mazur only granted two not deserved points on a safe blow and two balls in six rounds in a match, Miami lost 2-0 at home against Detroit last Saturday.
“It is just a constitutive element. Obviously, it is not taken, but it is a step in the right direction,” said Mazur about his production against tigers.
Mazur faced the rangers once in his career, granting four points over seven strokes in four rounds on July 3, 2024.
Leiter has a 0-2 file in its last three departures, including a defeat during its last outing Monday in Houston. He granted six points out of five strokes and a walk on 6 2/3 rounds on the reverse during which he launched 102 career throws.
Leiter has not yet faced the Marlins in his career.
– field level media
