Texas (49-27) at NY Yankees (37-37)
When: Monday, June 27th 2016
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Time: 7:05 ET | TV: FSN Southwest, YES
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There are a few teams in the Majors that are distancing themselves from the pack and establishing themselves as a legitimate World Series threat. The Texas Rangers are one of those clubs. The Rangers come into their four-game series tonight against the New York Yankees 27-8 since May 20th and have opened up a commanding ten game lead in the American League West. Texas put 23 runs up while taking two of three from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend and will play the next ten on the road. The Yankees are currently 3-2 on their nine-game homestand after yesterday’s 7-1 loss to Minnesota in which they surrendered six homeruns. New York, whose been hovering around .500 for a while, is already hearing rumblings about trades and is looking at a brutal stretch leading into the All-Star break with a 10-game road trip following the series against the Rangers. Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira hit a solo home run on Sunday to snap a career-long string of 147 straight homerless at-bats. Texas OF Ian Desmond has hit safely in eight straight games and homered in three of the last six.
Pitchers: Rangers – Chi Chi Gonzalez (2015: 4-6, 3.90 ERA) | Yankees – Ivan Nova (5-5, 5.18)
Chi Chi Gonzalez will make his first start of the 2016 season after spending plenty of time in the majors last season. He’s getting another chance with three of Texas’ starters on the disabled list. Gonzalez was 3-6 with a 5.04 ERA for Triple-A Round Rock in 14 starts but managed to hold major league hitters to a .202 batting average in 14 appearances last season. Gonzalez did not see the Yankees in 2015 and went 2-3 with a 2.87 ERA on the road.
Ivan Nova is falling on hard times recently and failed to make it through six innings in either of his last two outings. Nova was hit for a total of 11 runs – 10 earned – and 18 hits in nine innings, with both of those starts coming against Colorado. Nova is better in his career against Texas, owning a 3-2 record with a 4.85 ERA in seven games.
Gonzalez is a proven pitcher based on his time with the team last year. Nova has been hit hard in his last two starts and the Rangers offense is smoking hot right now. I’ll take Texas in the first game.
Pick: Rangers +115
