Astros takes on Rangers in Battle of the Lone Star State

After last night’s loss, Texas is hoping to get back in the win column when the Rangers host the Astros.

Pitching for Texas will be Yu Darvish (8-4, 2.63 ERA), who is going to his third straight All-Star game next week. The right-hander has been hot of late going 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in his last four starts. The Rangers brass was worried after he was hit in the head during batting practice yesterday but the Japanese-born pitcher said, “Everything appears to be OK.”

It’s too bad that’s not the case for the Rangers, who are close to falling into fifth place in the AL West.

As for the Astros, Dallas Keuchel (8-5, 3.06) is on the mound but he’s been struggling of late going 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA over his last three starts, all of which were road games. In fact, the southpaw gave up five runs and 13 hits in five innings of work last Friday against the Los Angeles Angels.

Keuchel said, “I haven’t been too good as of late, so I guess I have to go back to the drawing board and figure some stuff out.”

While Keuchel is at the drawing board, the Rangers are hoping to avoid a sweep. Darvish has the Rangers as a less than attractive home favorite (-194), but the 8 o/u could be in play considering are 46-38-2 at home this year.