The right-hander of the Texas recruit, Jack Leiter, will seek to have its first impact in the battle of the silver boot when the Rangers hosts will face the Astros of Houston Sunday afternoon in the final of a four game set in Arlington, Texas.
Leiter (3-2, 4.34 ERA) will start for the Rangers in the confrontation between the Rivaux Lone Start State, while Houston will thwart with the Framber Valdez (2-4, 3.54).
The Rangers are going for their third consecutive victory in the series after defeating Houston 5-1 on Saturday and took a 2-1 lead in the series. The Joc Peterson and Wyatt Langford had home circuits to support the strong launcher of Tyler Mahle for Texas in a 5-1 victory on Saturday.
Texas has won seven of its last eight outings while Houston has a 3-2 file in its last five games.
Leiter was spectacular in his last departure, granting one point on two strokes and three balls in six rounds while the Rangers beat Colorado 4-1 on Tuesday. He withdrew five years and achieved six rounds for the first time in his career while recording his first quality departure.
“I could always have done a better job and potentially enter the game more deeply,” said Leiter after the victory over the Rockies. “When you know that the lift enclosure is a bit light, you have to attack even more and do everything you can to get in a game in a game. This is what I tried to do.”
Leiter’s performance against the Rockies was the rebound he needed after losing his two previous departures in which he sold 10 points in 9 2/3 heats.
Leiter never faced the astros during his 15 career appearances.
Valdez has only won once in his eight departures since March. A defeat on the route of the unfortunate Chicago White Sox and a victory in Milwaukee preceded a non-decision in its last appearance, a match that the Astros won 2-1 at home on Kansas City on Tuesday.
In this match, Valdez made eight rounds, granting a point on six strokes and a walk while removing seven.
“Make less mistakes was my goal,” said Valdez after the Kansas City match. “When you have fewer errors, you have better results for your team. I worked to keep the ball in the area.”
Valdez faced the Rangers 17 times (14 departures) and forged a file of 8-5 with an MPM of 2.83 in 92 1/3 sleeves. He granted 35 points (29 deserved) over 68 strokes with 94 stick withdrawals and 39 steps.
Houston scored in just two of the 27 rounds of the series – accumulating six points in seventh round Friday to beat the Rangers 6-3 and count in the first round on Saturday before succumbing. The Astros were excluded from 1-0 in the first game on Thursday.
“We had something (Saturday), but we just couldn’t have enough,” said Astros Joe Espada manager about his team’s score problems. “I thought we had very good strikers (in the series). We are in match 45 of the season. You know, it takes a while for some of these strikers to start.”
– Field level media
