The Rangers head home for the home opener, welcoming the Cincinnati Reds for a three-game series starting this Friday. Texas comes in hot — Seager, Burger and the offense have been rolling — and the home crowd should be ready. That said, this isn’t the softest draw to open the home slate. Let’s break it down.
Game 1 · Friday, April 3rd · 3:05 PM CST
Mackenzie Gore vs. Brady Singer
This is actually a pretty good spot for Singer. Rangers hitters are slashing just .173/.246/.327 against him, and outside of Danny Jansen going 2-5 with a homer, Texas hasn’t done much against him at all. The concern here is on Gore’s end — the Reds are hitting .314/.429/.614 collectively against him, and the individual matchups back it up. Dane Myers is 3-5 with a homer, Elly De La Cruz is 2-4 with a double, Spencer Steer is 2-4. Gore is going to have to be better than those numbers suggest he’s been. As Rangers fans we have to be hoping the home opener atmosphere helps him find something extra.
Game 2 · Saturday, April 4th · 6:05 PM CST
Kumar Rocker vs. Rhett Lowder
This is the toughest matchup of the series for Texas. The Reds have absolutely lit up Rocker — .530/.571/1.077 as a group. Elly with a homer, McClain with a homer, Eugenio Suarez with a double. Those are ugly numbers and Cincinnati knows it. The silver lining is Lowder is a younger pitcher without a ton of reps, you have to hope a red hot rangers offense can get after him. If he Rangers are going to steal this game it’ll be because the bats bail Rocker out.
Game 3 · Sunday, April 5th · 1:35 PM CST
Jack Leiter vs. Chase Burns
Sunday sets up as the best pitching matchup of the series from a Rangers perspective. Leiter holds the Reds to a .231/.231/.308 line — Elly, Suarez, and Hebron are each 1-2 against him, but there’s no real damage being done. Burns on the other side is a complete unknown to Texas — the only Ranger with any experience against him is Danny Jansen with a single at-bat. If Leiter is locked in and able to keep Cincinnati off the board, the Rangers offense should eventually figure Burns out.
Keys to the Series
Gore needs to be better than his numbers against Cincinnati suggest he’s been — a rough Game 1 start would be a tough way to open the home slate. Rocker has a real challenge Saturday and the Rangers offense is going to need to show up big to keep that game winnable. Sunday is the best spot for Texas, and Leiter needs to take advantage of it.
On offense, Seager (.314/.429/.520, 3 HR, 5 BB) and Burger (.346/.370/.615, 6 RBIs) have been the engines of this lineup and they’ll need to carry that momentum into the weekend. The one Reds hitter to watch is Sal Stewart — .474/.615/.947 with 2 HR and 7 BB, he’s one of the hottest bats in baseball coming into this series and Gore needs to silence him in Game 1.
Prediction: Rangers Take 2 of 3
Friday comes down to which Gore shows up — the one who dominated in Philly, or the one the Reds have owned. Saturday feels like a wild card and probably a high scoring affair — the Reds have Rocker’s number, but the Rangers offense is as hot as anybody in baseball right now and Lowder has never seen them. Sunday is the Rangers’ best chance to win — Leiter has kept Cincinnati quiet and Burns is a complete unknown to Texas. If they’re going to take the series, Sunday is where you circle it.
Bullpen Usage
Courtesy of rotowire.
Random
Former rangers coming to town with Cincinnati include 2023 World Series Team members Brock Burke and Nathaniel Lowe. They are also joined by Jose Trevino. Nothing but love for all three of those guys, excited to see them and root for their successes so long as rangers win the series
Last year we had Cincy on the road as the second series of the year. Rangers got pummeled game 1 with rocker facing singer losing 14-3.
Rangers snuck out 1-0 wins in games 2 and 3 of that series however.