Lauer set to start for Padres in series opener against Rangers

Texas Rangers (62-84, fifth in AL West) vs. San Diego Padres (59-88, fifth in NL West)

San Diego; Friday, 10:10 p.m. Eastern

PROBABLE PITCHERS: Rangers: Connor Sadzeck (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, two strikeouts) Padres: Eric Lauer (5-7, 4.80 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 85 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: San Diego and Texas match up to open a three-game series. The Padres have gone 7-13 in Lauer’s starts. San Diego pitchers are averaging 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Miguel Diaz leads the staff with a mark of 17.3. Texas’ lineup has 146 home runs this year, Joey Gallo paces them with 36 homers. Adrian Beltre helped the Rangers earn a 5-2 win when these two teams last met on June 27. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

TOP PERFORMERS: Shin-Soo Choo has 80 runs and 61 RBIs for the Rangers this year. Nomar Mazara has three home runs and 10 RBIs while slugging .694 over his past 10 games for Texas. Eric Hosmer is batting .251 with a .306 on-base percentage and .398 slugging percentage in 142 games this season for the Padres. Hunter Renfroe has five home runs and six RBIs while slugging .675 over his past 10 games for San Diego.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 3-7, .236 batting average, 5.19 ERA, outscored by seven runs. Padres: 5-5, .226 batting average, 5.19 ERA, outscored by 12 runs.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.