Rangers take on the Reds in first of 3-game series

Cincinnati Reds (14-11, third in the NL Central) vs. Texas Rangers (13-13, second in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Graham Ashcraft (3-1, 5.24 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 23 strikeouts); Rangers: Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 3.30 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 28 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Rangers -172, Reds +143; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Texas Rangers host the Cincinnati Reds on Friday to open a three-game series.

Texas has gone 6-7 at home and 13-13 overall. The Rangers have the sixth-ranked team slugging percentage in the AL at .395.

Cincinnati has a 14-11 record overall and a 5-4 record on the road. The Reds have a 9-2 record in games when they did not give up a home run.

Friday's game is the first time these teams square off this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Adolis Garcia leads the Rangers with a .299 batting average, and has seven doubles, seven home runs, seven walks and 23 RBI. Jonah Heim is 11-for-37 with two home runs and nine RBI over the past 10 games.

Elly De La Cruz leads the Reds with seven home runs while slugging .635. Jake Fraley is 9-for-26 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 5-5, .219 batting average, 3.93 ERA, outscored by five runs

Reds: 5-5, .178 batting average, 4.03 ERA, outscored by three runs

INJURIES: Rangers: Austin Pruitt: 15-Day IL (knee), Brock Burke: 60-Day IL (hand), Cody Bradford: 15-Day IL (back), Justin Foscue: 60-Day IL (oblique strain), Joshua Jung: 60-Day IL (wrist), Max Scherzer: 15-Day IL (back), Tyler Mahle: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jacob deGrom: 60-Day IL (elbow), Carson Coleman: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Reds: Alex Young: 60-Day IL (back), Frankie Montas: 15-Day IL (forearm), Jake Fraley: day-to-day (illness), Tejay Antone: 60-Day IL (elbow), Matt McLain: 60-Day IL (shoulder), TJ Friedl: 10-Day IL (wrist), Ian Gibaut: 15-Day IL (forearm), Brandon Williamson: 15-Day IL (shoulder)

___

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