Texas Rangers Set Rotation For Crucial Seattle Mariners Series

The Texas Rangers will start Dane Dunning in Friday’s series opener with the Seattle Mariners, with Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi to follow.

The Rangers and the Mariners are tied for second place in the AL West, a half-game behind the Houston Astros for first place. They also enter Friday’s game tied for the third and final American League Wild Card spot.

The Rangers and Mariners play each other seven times in the last 10 days of the season. They meet again in Seattle for four games starting next Thursday.

Friday’s opener is set for 7:05 p.m., while Saturday’s game will be at 6:05 p.m. and Sunday’s finale will be at 1:35 p.m.

Dunning (10-6, 3.78) last pitched on Saturday in Cleveland. In that game, he didn’t allow a run in five innings and gave up six hits. He struck out five and walked three. But he walked away with a no-decision and the Rangers walked away with a loss, as they lost all three games in Cleveland.

The Rangers are using Thursday's off-day to their advantage and pitching Montgomery and Eovaldi on the weekend, as each can pitch on normal rest after their starts on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, against Boston. Doing this also allows them to skip the "fifth starter" in the rotation this time through.

Montgomery (9-11, 3.38) took a no-decision in the Boston opener on Monday. He threw seven innings, giving up five hits and one earned run. He struck out eight and walked none.

Nathan Eovaldi (11-4, 3.05) threw five innings in his last start on Tuesday, giving up four hits and three earned runs. He struck out three and walked three. He took a no-decision but the Rangers won the game.

The Rangers start a road series with the Los Angeles Angels on Monday, and that would be Jon Gray's normal turn. But, there is a chance that left-hander Martín Pérez could return to the rotation, manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged.

Pérez threw 4 2/3 innings against the Red Sox on Wednesday in relief of Gray, who struggled as the starter. Throwing Pérez on Monday would keep him on normal rest.

The Rangers could still go with Gray, or they could go with Cody Bradford (4-2, 4.65), who went three innings last Sunday against the Cleveland Guardians. He gave up seven hits and six earned runs. He struck out two and walked none. He hasn’t thrown since that start.

The Rangers have been creative with rotation options since losing Max Scherzer for the rest of the regular season while he made his last start in Toronto.

The Mariners have set their rotation for the series. Right-hander Bryce Miller (8-5, 3.88) will start Friday, right-hander Logan Gilbert (13-6, 3.77) is Saturday and and right-hander Bryan Woo (4-4, 3.90) goes Sunday.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.