Rangers Lineup Must Exploit Key Weakness of Astros Starter Spencer Arrighetti

The Texas Rangers have set their lineup for Thursday’s series finale with the Houston Astros at Globe Life Field.

Texas Rangers designated hitter Joc Pederson. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are getting ready for what will be their most difficult pitching matchup of their four-game series with the Houston Astros on Thursday.

While Texas has gotten plenty of traffic off Astros starting pitchers in the past two games, right-hander Spencer Arrighetti has been brilliant since he was called up from the minors in April.

Just how good has he been? His ERA of 1.32 is the ninth lowest ERA of any Houston Astros pitcher in their first seven starts of the season. That's up there with players like Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Justin Verlander.

Arrighetti got another chance at the rotation after the Astros absorbed several injuries to their starting rotation. In his first seven starts he's given up 24 hits, which is less than four hits per game. But he has struggled with walks. He's handed out 25 free passes, which is right around four per game. The Rangers have done a good job of drawing walks this series and that could be a difference. But Texas will need key hits to go along with it.

With the Rangers starting Nathan Eovaldi, the scoring may not start until the bullpens hit the mound. Arrighetti allowed the Rangers one hit in 7.1 innings when they faced each other in Houston. He did give up four walks.

The American League West race is still a mess, with every team under .500. But there's a new leader. The Seattle Mariners took control of the division on Wednesday with their third straight win and are now one-half game ahead of the Athletics, even though they're a game below .500.

With all the changes in the race, the Rangers are five games under .500 but they're still only two games back. The Astros are now three games back.

Here is Thursday’s lineup.

Rangers Lineup on May 28

Texas Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

1B Joc Pederson (L)

LF Alejandro Osuna (L)

DH Brandon Nimmo (L)

3B Josh Jung

CF Evan Carter (L)

1B Jake Burger

SS Ezequiel Duran

C Kyle Higashioka

2B Nicky Lopez

RHP Nathan Eovaldi

Arrighetti has been exceptional this season which means the Rangers need to leverage every good matchup they have against the right-hander. The reality is Texas doesn't have many of them. Only two players have a 300 or better average against Arrighetti and that's Justin Foscue and Danny Jansen. Both are batting 333 against him. Jansen, who played on Wednesday, has a home run and an RBI against Arrighetti. Nicky Lopez is the only other Rangers player with a hit against him. He’s 1-for-4 lifetime.