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Angels, Rangers meet in Texas on Monday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 5/23/2016  at  8:13:00 AM
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LOS ANGELES ANGELS (20-24)

at TEXAS RANGERS (25-19)

First pitch: Monday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles +100, Texas -110, Total: 9.5

The Rangers will be looking to win their fourth straight game when they host the Angels Monday night.

The Angels are coming off of a losing series against the Orioles, but they did win the final game of that one 10-2 on Sunday. Los Angeles has won seven of its past 10 games and the reason the club has been winning is because of its offense. The Angels have racked up double digits in hits in seven of their past 11 games and they’ll be looking to keep the bats hot on Monday. The Rangers, meanwhile, are coming off of a sweep over the Astros last series. They won the final game of that set 9-2 and racked up 13 hits in the contest. Texas has been pitching extremely well as of late, allowing two or fewer runs in each of the three victories over Houston. The Rangers will be hoping to slow down the Angels’ offense on Monday. Taking the mound for Los Angeles in this game will be RHP Nick Tropeano (2-2, 3.30 ERA, 43 K) and he’ll be going up against LHP Derek Holland (3-3, 5.62 ERA, 21 K) for Texas. One trend worth noting is that the Angels are 41-20 against the money line when the total is 9 to 9.5 over the past three seasons. The Rangers, however, are an absurd 9-0 against the money line with an on base percentage of .285 or worse over their past five games this season. They’re also 17-5 against the money line after two straight games where they stranded five or less runners on base over the past two seasons.

Nike Tropeano will be taking the mound for the Angels on Monday and he has been pitching very well for the team lately. Over his past two starts, Tropeano has allowed just three earned runs in 12.0 innings of work. He should be feeling extremely confident coming into this matchup and a quality start would put his team in good position to win this game with the way the Angels have been hitting lately. One guy to watch out for is C Carlos Perez (.205 BA, 2 HR, 13 RBI), who is coming off of a big game for Los Angeles. Perez went 3-for-4 with a homer and five RBI against the Orioles on Sunday. He is now 8-for-21 with two homers and nine RBI over the past six games and will be looking to stay hot on Monday. Other guys that definitely need to be noted are OF Mike Trout (.321 BA, 10 HR, 31 RBI) and DH Albert Pujols (.228, 8 HR, 28 RBI). Trout is 11-for-38 with two homers and nine RBI against Holland in his career and Pujols is 8-for-28 with three homers and four RBI against the Rangers’ starter. The two of them will be looking to display their power in this matchup on Monday.

Derek Holland will be looking to slow down the red-hot Angels on Monday and should be confident in his ability to do just that. The last time he faced Los Angeles was Apr. 30 and he pitched incredibly well in that one. Holland went 6.0 innings in that game and allowed zero earned runs on just four hits. It’s hard to imagine the Rangers losing if he is able to replicate those numbers on Monday. Texas does, however, need 3B Adrian Beltre (.263 BA, 7 HR, 29 RBI) to get it going with the bat. Over the past four games, Beltre is just 2-for-16 with no homers and two RBI. He is the best hitter in this lineup and needs to start producing soon. One guy who has been swinging a hot bat for the Rangers is OF Nomar Mazara (.304 BA, 6 HR, 16 RBI). Mazara has had five multi hit games in the past 10 contests and has also hit two homers in the past four games. If he can continue to add an offensive spark to this team then they should be able to keep up their hot streak.


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