Play2Win
I played Texas 1st 5 because,
When Nick Martinez pitches Texas is 6-0 when he starts, and this time, they'll be seeing a face from their past.
Edinson Volquez began his career with the Rangers 10 years ago and will pitch as a visitor in Arlington for the first time Tuesday night when his Kansas City Royals look to even this four-game set.
Martinez (2-0, 1.47 ERA) has been one of baseball's biggest early surprises with the majors' second-lowest ERA. The second-year starter spent the bulk of his college career at unheralded Fordham as an infielder, and he's succeeding despite averaging 3.68 strikeouts per nine innings for baseball's third-worst mark among qualifiers.
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He's searching for his first win in five starts after allowing three runs over 4 2-3 innings in Thursday's 5-4 victory at Tampa Bay. The right-hander, who has yet to allow a homer, has never faced the Royals - who lead the majors with a .287 average.
The only Kansas City hitter he has faced is Kendrys Morales, who is 1 for 6 off him.
Volquez (2-3, 2.65) expects to make this start after allowing three runs over three innings Thursday before he exited due to a blister on his right thumb that popped in a 7-4 win over Cleveland. He issued six walks for the first time in two seasons.
The right-hander went 3-11 in 20 appearances - 17 starts - with the Rangers between 200 5-07 before he was traded to Cincinnati in a deal that brought Josh Hamilton to Texas. Volquez's only career start against the Rangers was a 7-3 loss with San Diego in which he gave up six runs in five innings on June 19, 2012.
Prince Fielder is 4 for 18 with a homer against Volquez and Adrian Beltre is 2 for 11.
Beltre has gone 4 for 8 with two homers and four RBIs in consecutive victories for Texas (14-18), which opened this series with Monday's 8-2 rout. He drilled his 399th homer in the fourth inning as the Rangers won for the sixth time in eight games.
'I'm feeling better,' said Beltre, who has raised his average from .140 to .244 over the past 20 games. 'Offensively, everybody is doing better. No doubt that we didn't want to start as slow as we did, but it's a long season, and we need to start picking it up a little bit.'
Another hitter slowly showing improvement is Shin-Soo Choo, who is batting .304 during an 11-game hitting streak that has raised his average from .096 to .194.
The Royals (20-12) finished with five hits and looked sluggish. They didn't arrive in Texas until about 5:45 a.m. Monday after their 10-inning, rain-delayed victory at Detroit that ended after midnight.
'It's definitely a factor, but it's all part of the grind,' said first baseman Eric Hosmer, who is hitting .339 with 15 RBIs over his last 14 games. 'I don't know if that was the reason. You've got to credit those guys."
Third baseman Mike Moustakas returned from a three-game absence on the bereavement list and went 0 for 3 with a walk.
