The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros resume the Silver Boot Series in Houston on Friday, a week after splitting a four-game series in Arlington.
The weekend series will mark Texas’ first return to Houston since winning Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS to earn a spot in the World Series in October. That could bring high stakes, but the Rangers are focusing on the season at hand.
“Obviously, it’s going to be back on our minds, but that was last year,” catcher Jonah Heim told the media after Thursday’s loss to the Oakland Athletics. “We’re on a new year. We’re trying to accomplish the same goals, and that starts when we walk in there and try to take Game 1.”
The Rangers won the season’s first two meetings but collapsed in the following two, allowing the Astros to salvage the split. This led to a three-game losing streak for Texas, and the Rangers lost a series for the first time this season by dropping two of three against the Athletics.
Meanwhile, Houston has struggled to a 4-10 start to the year, enduring its second sweep of the season in a decisive three-game set against the Kansas City Royals. Houston has already allowed at least seven runs in four games and 10 or more runs three times. Facing a Rangers’ offense that still ranks among the top five MLB teams in batting average despite injuries, the Astros will have to hope those struggles get fixed quickly.
However, that doesn’t mean the Rangers will take Houston lightly, especially this early in the season after so many close calls in recent matchups.
“[We’re expecting] a hard-fought series,” Heim said. “Obviously, every time we play them is a close[ly] contested matchup, and each game’s important. We’ve seen it come down to the final game of the year, so we just take it game by game and just go from there.”
Houston and Texas will play three games this weekend, with Dane Dunning, Andrew Heaney, and Nathan Eovaldi slated to take the mound. Heaney and Dunning both faced Houston last weekend and suffered losses.
The Rangers and Astros will begin their weekend series at 7:10 p.m. CT on Friday.
