Rangers Lineup vs Pirates: Wyatt Langford Not in Order, Ezequiel Duran in LF

The Texas Rangers have set their lineup for Wednesday’s Game 2 of their three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Texas Rangers logo. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers are chasing a fifth straight win at home when they face the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday at Globe Life Field.

Game time is 7:05 p.m.

The Rangers (12-11) have won four straight games at GLF, dating back to their three-game series sweep of the Seattle Mariners earlier this month. They won the first game of their series with the Pirates (13-10) on Tuesday, 5-1, as pitcher Kumar Rocker gave Texas his first quality start of the season. Every Texas starter, except for leadoff man Brandon Nimmo, reached base. It was one of Texas’ most balanced offensive performances of the season. The Rangers did it without a home run.

Texas boosted its batting average at home 11 points on Tuesday. The Rangers are now batting .211 at GLF going into the game.

The win helped Texas keep pace with the Athletics (13-11) in the AL West race. The A’s are a half-game ahead of the Rangers after they beat the Mariners for the second straight game on Tuesday. The Athletics come to Arlington for a three-game series that starts on Friday. It will be the second time the two teams have faced each other in two weeks.

With both the Rangers and Athletics winning, they’ve put a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the division — the Los Angeles Angels (11-14, 2.5 games back), the Mariners (10-15, 3.5 games back) and the Houston Astros (9-16, 4.5 games back) — going into Wednesday’s action.

Rangers Lineup vs. Pirates on April 22

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

RF Brandon Nimmo (L)

SS Corey Seager (L)

1B Jake Burger

DH Joc Pederson (L)

3B Josh Jung

CF Evan Carter (L)

C Kyle Higashioka

2B Josh Smith (L)

LF Ezequiel Duran

RHP Jack Leiter

The biggest question going into the day was whether outfielder Wyatt Langford would be in the lineup after he left Tuesday’s game with right forearm tightness. We have our answer. Langford was supposed to get an MRI on Wednesday, and those results were not known before the lineup was released by the Rangers. So, it’s possible he could be available to pinch-hit.

After he left a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on n April 10 when he strained his left quad, he missed three games but didn’t go on the injured list.

Seager, Burger, Pederson, Jung and Carter move up a spot based on Tuesday’s batting order. Higashioka joins the lineup, followed by Smith and Duran, who will start in left field for Langford. All five left-handed hitters are in the lineup for a second straight game against a right-handed Pirate starter.