Rangers play the Rays in first of 3-game series

Tampa Bay Rays (4-2) vs. Texas Rangers (5-2)

Arlington, Texas; Friday, 8:05 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Zack Littell (0-1, 1.50 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, seven strikeouts); Rangers: Tyler Mahle (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 3.60 WHIP, three strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Rangers -125, Rays +106; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Texas Rangers host the Tampa Bay Rays to start a three-game series.

Texas went 78-84 overall and 44-37 in home games last season. The Rangers pitching staff averaged 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings while giving up 4.6 runs per game in the 2024 season.

Tampa Bay went 80-82 overall and 38-43 in road games last season. The Rays scored 3.7 runs per game in the 2024 season while giving up 4.1.

INJURIES: Rangers: Josh Jung: 10-Day IL (neck), Jon Gray: 60-Day IL (wrist), Josh Sborz: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Rays: Josh Lowe: 10-Day IL (oblique), Alex Faedo: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Ha-Seong Kim: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Shane McClanahan: 15-Day IL (tricep), Richard Palacios: 10-Day IL (finger), Nathan Lavender: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.