ARLINGTON — The first swing through the Texas Rangers’ starting rotation has been ironed out.
The Rangers will pitch right-hander Dane Dunning (Monday), left-hander Andrew Heaney (Tuesday) and right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (Wednesday) in the season’s first road series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Left-hander Cody Bradford will start Saturday’s game vs. the Chicago Cubs and righty Jon Gray will pitch in the series finale on Sunday. This means that Texas will only use one southpaw starter vs. the Rays, who posted the third-highest OPS (.784) vs. left-handed pitching in the AL last season behind only the Rangers and Houston Astros.
Dunning pitched seven innings of two-run ball against the Rays last July, and Heaney allowed three runs in five innings during his lone start against Tampa Bay last June. Eovaldi — who gave up two runs in six innings pitched on opening day vs. the Cubs — went 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in two regular season starts against the Rays last season, and pitched 6 and 2/3 innings of one-run ball in Tampa Bay to help Texas clinch the AL Wild Card series last October.
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