On Deck will be here all season to provide you with everything you need to know (and a few things you don't) about every Rangers series during the 2013 season.
The Opponent: The Milwaukee Brewers come to town struggling in a season-long funk. Their face of the franchise has had his name tarnished forever and they're in last place in the NL Central.
Past 2013 Meetings: The teams have split the two previous games this season back in May, now the Brewers come to Texas for two more to wrap up the four-game Interleague series.
Pitching Matchups: Tuesday — Alexi Ogando (5-3, 3.28 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (4-4, 4.96); Wednesday — Matt Garza (8-2, 3.23; 2-1, 3.38 as Ranger) vs. Tyler Thornburg (1-0, 1.72).
What's Hot: Nothing new here, but Adrian Beltre continues to stay red-hot for the Rangers, as he's now 12-for-23 in his last six games with a team-high seven RBIs over that span. He has just one strikeout in that time. A.J. Pierzynski has perfected the bloop single with an occasional home run mixed in, and now he's hitting .412 in his last four games with a homer and four RBIs. On the mound, look no further than Yu Darvish, who fanned a career-high 15 on Monday, and Martin Perez, who tossed his first complete game on Sunday.
Milwaukee first baseman Juan Francisco is hitting .500 with three doubles over his last four games and second baseman Scooter Gennett 5-for-11 over his last three starts with a homer and three RBIs. Ten, count 'em 10, Brewers pitchers have ERAs of 0.00 over the last week. Estrada, who will make his second start since a return from the DL, threw five scoreless innings in his first time back out.
What's Not: Robbie Ross is still struggling and has only had one appearance over the last week. Hopefully for him, the time off will benefit the second-year lefty who was undoubtedly overworked over the first half of the season. After a brief stretch of relevance, David Murphy has gone cold again, hitting .182 over his last four games. Ian Kinsler is hitting .192 over his last six games.
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Carlos Gomez and Yuniesky Betancourt both were red-hot and hurt the Rangers back in May when the teams split in Milwaukee. Now, the pair is hitting .208 and .150, respectively, over the last week.
Familiar Faces: Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz got his start in the Brewers' organization before coming to Texas in the Carlos Lee trade. Of course, Cruz is nowhere to be found now, as he's serving his 50-game suspension for his involvement in the Biogenesis PED scandal.
