Rangers Lineup vs. Tigers: Texas Plays Matchups Against Jack Flaherty

The Texas Rangers have set their lineup for the first game of their three-game series against the Detroit Tigers on Friday.

Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers enter their six-game road trip trying to get their offense back on track. The good news is the road is where it’s been at for this offense this season.

The Rangers (15-16) are batting more than 30 points better on the road than at home this season and entering Friday’s game at Comerica Park, Texas is hoping to recapture that and try to put together a winning road trip, which ends in New York against the Yankees next week.

It’s expected to be chilly in Detroit this weekend, with the temperatures at game time on Friday and Saturday expected to be in the 40s. That could play a factor in how the Rangers deploy one starter who suffered an injury in Wednesday’s series finale with the Yankees in Arlington.

Rangers Splits Entering Series

Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Texas has been a better hitting team on the road than at home so far this season. Here are some relevant splits going into the series:

Season Slash: .236/.315/.376, 29 home runs, 114 RBI

Road Slash: .251/.332/.421, 22 home runs, 77 RBI

Home Slash: .217/.294/.322, seven home runs, 37 RBI.

Texas improved its slash at home by 19 points during the recently ended nine-game homestand. But Texas struggled mightily with its slash with runners in scoring position during the 4-5 homestand.

This is where the Rangers stand in RISP going into the series: a .249/.330/.396 slash with nine home runs and 82 RBI. The batting average is No. 17 in the Majors entering the series. The Rangers have struck out 76 times and walked 29 times in those situations.

Rangers Lineup vs. Yankees on April 29

Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

RF Brandon Nimmo (L)

3B Josh Jung

SS Corey Seager (L)

DH Joc Pederson (L)

1B Jake Burger

CF Evan Carter (L)

C Danny Jansen

LF Alejandro Osuna (L)

2B Ezequiel Duran

LHP MacKenzie Gore

The Tigers are starting right-hander Jack Flaherty and the two hitters with the most experience against him have had wildly different success levels. Joc Pederson is batting .318 in 22 at-bats against him with three home runs and five RBI. Corey Seager is batting .083 against Flaherty. He has one home run and one RBI in 12 at-bats. The rest of the lineup has seven or fewer at-bats against him.

The three hitters with no experience against him are Brandon Nimmo, Sam Haggerty and Alejandro Osuna.

Texas usually goes with a left-handed lineup against right-handers and for Friday’s game there is good reason to use them. Left-handers are hitting much better against him this season, with a slash of .245/.431/.490 while right-handers are slashing .222/.364/.356. Texas should go as left-handed as possible until Detroit gets into its bullpen.