(SportsNetwork.com) – Coming off a successful weekend in the Bay Area, the
Arizona Diamondbacks return to Chase Field Tuesday night for the opener of a
brief two-game interleague series with the Texas Rangers.
The Diamondbacks finished up their west coast trip by taking three of four
from the Giants over the weekend. They now return home for eight straight
against Texas, Pittsburgh and Colorado.
Starter Jeremy Hellickson snapped his 11-game winless streak as the D’backs
left San Francisco with a 5-1 victory on Sunday. The right-hander tossed 6 2/3
innings of one-run ball, while Paul Goldschmidt belted a first-inning home run
and Chris Owings added a two-run single in the third to spark the offense.
Goldschmidt went deep three times during the seven-game trip.
“I’ve been able to have some success, but you never know when that’s going to
change,” he said. “It could be a terrible series next time so I just try to
get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard. Just keep it simple.”
The Rangers are in the second leg of an eight-game road swing that began in
Seattle and wraps up against the Angels in Los Angeles this weekend. They blew
a five-run lead and lost Sunday’s rubber match against the Mariners, 11-10, in
a game that saw the teams combine for 30 hits.
Nelson Cruz was a thorn in the side of his former team, as he homered twice
and then delivered the game-winning single with two outs in the bottom of the
ninth off closer Neftali Feliz.
“I was just trying to keep the ball low,” Feliz said. “He’s a good hitter.
That ball was low. He made good contact.”
Nick Martinez gets the start for Texas in Tuesday’s opener. The right-hander
has displayed top form in each of his first two times through the rotation,
having held opposing hitters to a .174 batting average. Martinez allowed only
an unearned run in seven innings against the Angels his last time out,
bringing an end to his 13-inning scoreless streak.
One of only three Rangers pitchers to go at least seven innings in his first
two starts without allowing an earned run, Martinez owns a 1.64 ERA over his
last eight starts dating back to last season.
Arizona will counter with Wichita Falls product Chase Anderson, who is seeking
his first victory of 2015 following consecutive no-decisions. Anderson limited
San Diego to two runs in six innings on Wednesday, as he struck out five and
walked one batter in an eventual 3-2 loss.
He’ll hope for some better run support inside the confines of Chase Field,
where the team has won six of his last eight starts, including three straight.
Texas and Arizona last faced each other during the 2013 season when they split
four meetings of a home-and-home series.
