Texas Rangers send Martin Perez up against King Felix in opener vs. Mariners
Lefthander Martin Perez hopes to continue his strong start to the season as the Texas Rangers open a three game set with the Mariners.
For lefty Martin Perez, this Texas Rangers season has gotten off to a pretty good start. Had the offense not squandered a couple of giant opportunities in his start against Cleveland, Perez could be 2-0. Instead, he enters 1-1 on the heels of a solid outing against Oakland this past Sunday.
He lasted just 5 1/3 innings after allowing a single and a double to the Athletics’ six and seven hitters but escaped the jam thanks to a fantastic relief effort from Jose Leclerc. Perez went on to earn his first victory of the 2017 season after an offensive explosion for the 8-1 Rangers victory.
But this go-around, one of the American League’s best arms stands in his way in “King” Felix Hernandez. They’ll go head-to-head at 9:05 CDT from Safeco Field tonight to open a series of three games.
Perez at Safeco
The 26-year-old has pitched six times at Safeco, starting five of them in his previous five big league seasons. He’s had fairly average success in Seattle, yielding 32 hits and 11 walks in 28 innings. His 2-2 record, 4.50 earned run average and .283 batting average allowed don’t seem like too much to get excited about. However, we can glean a little bit of positivity from his last Safeco outing.
Perez started his only game at Safeco Field last September 6. He got off to a rough start allowing a run in the first and another in the second, which was unearned because of an Elvis Andrus error.
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Then in the third, Seattle right fielder and former Ranger great Nelson Cruz reached on a second Andrus error, which should have been the second out. Two pitches later, Kyle Seager put the ball into the left field seats for a two-run homer. It sounds awful, but remember that two of those runs came unearned.
Perez settled in following the Seager blast and allowed just four more baserunners in the final three innings. He reached a jam in the fifth when a double, walk and single loaded the bases for Seattle, but he got catcher Mike Zunino to bounce into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
He retired the Mariners’ 9-1-2 hitters in the sixth on just 11 pitches as a farewell parting gift to Seattle. His 97-pitch outing was enough to get the lead to the bullpen and Perez earned his 10th victory of the season.
The Mariners vs. Perez
The aforementioned Seager has hit Perez well and hard in 32 plate appearances against him. Seager enters Friday night’s game batting .400 with four home runs and seven runs batted in against Perez in his career.
Perez has also struggled against Cruz, who has a .500 average in 12 plate appearances against him. Cruz’s five hits against him include two home runs and a double for a massive 1.200 lifetime slugging percentage versus Perez. Those two homers came in the first two games Cruz faced Perez last season, but they also both came at Globe Life Park.
Surprisingly, Robinson Cano has managed just four singles against Perez in 18 lifetime plate appearances. His .222 average against Perez is the lowest among all current Mariners with 10+ at bats against him.
Another former Texas hitter, Leonys Martin, has just a .143 batting average in eight plate appearances vs. Perez. Martin’s lone single came in that September outing at Safeco last season.
The Rangers vs. Hernandez
The Texas Rangers have gone up against King Felix 50 times in 12 seasons. But despite what look like really good numbers on the surface, they’ve given him fits in those starts.
Only the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have seen Hernandez pitch more innings against them than the Rangers. In 319 innings, Texas hitters have just a .246/.316/.369 slash against him. Yet, he has a record of just 18-23 against the Rangers.
Granted, a big part of that has to do with his slot in the rotation. As the ace of the Seattle staff, Hernandez typically will face the ace of his opponents. That generally leads to very little run support. Couple that with the hitter-friendly environment at Safeco and that’s a big reason the Rangers have beaten him in numerous. However, a good chunk of those losses against Texas came earlier in Hernandez’s career.
Hernandez dominated the Rangers in 2015, winning all five starts and posting a 1.83 ERA against them. But then last season, Texas got their revenge on him by blistering him for a 7.47 ERA and a 1-2 record. They did it by laying off a lot of his bad pitches and showing plate discipline against him. He ended up with a .92 strikeout to walk ratio to show for it by season’s end.
Keep an eye on Andrus against Hernandez. They’ve squared off a total of 106 times, making for a generous sample size. In those plate appearances, Andrus has 27 hits for a .290 average and a .356 OBP. But he’s mostly been a slap-hitter against King Felix with just a total of four extra base hits — all of which are doubles.
He’s really the only success story the Rangers currently have against Hernandez. Mike Napoli has homered off of him twice, but still has just a .205 average in 45 plate appearances against him. In fact, if you include Andrus and his .290, the current Rangers roster has a slash against Felix of just .233/.333/.353.
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But perhaps Friday night will bring some of that same hard-luck success they had against him last season. After all, they’re 2-8 and desperate for anything to get happy about. Meanwhile, Texas has a shot at getting over .500. This one should be fun.