?
If the Houston Astros are heading into a two-game series against rival Texas with the idea that
they’ll be able to push around the rebuilding Rangers and get back on
track after three straight
losses
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The Astros will send struggling left-hander Dallas Keuchel (4-8, 4.22 ERA)
to the mound in the first game of the series on Tuesday at Globe Life
Park in Arlington. Texas will counter with right-hander Austin
Bibens-Dirkx (1-1, 3.57).
Houston lost three straight games in Tampa Bay last weekend, including a 3-2
setback on Sunday, and dropped its first series since May 28-30 at
Yankee Stadium.
The Astros were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position on Sunday and 0-for-14 in
the series. Houston managed just seven runs in the four-game series —
all on homers, including two solo shots Sunday by Evan Gattis.
It was the Astros’ fewest runs in a four-game series on the road since
they scored five at Tropicana Field against the Rays in 2014.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game or the series,” Astros manager AJ
Hinch told mlb.com. “We made some mental errors, we had some big moments
that they executed some pitches. One-run games, a couple of losses this
series, are tough to swallow. We’ll take it to the next city, but this
one sucks.”
The Rangers, meanwhile, have been as hot as the triple-digit temperatures in the
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Texas is 12-6 since the Astros swept a
four-game series from them in Arlington on June 7-10 and have won a
season-best five straight series, including taking two of three games
last weekend at home against the White Sox.
Texas ended that series with a 10-5 loss on Sunday in which ace starter Cole
Hamels
struggled
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and nine hits, which matched his high for the year.
Hamels, who has been the constant subject of trade talks for the past month,
said afterward that he was blocking out that talk and it had no effect
on his performance.
“It’s not a big deal. It’s out of my control,” Hamels said. “I have to go and
pitch, and hopefully that’ll be the last time I have to answer that
question.”
Keuchel took a no-decision in his last start on June 27 against Toronto, allowing six
runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of the Astros’ 7-6 comeback
victory. He surrendered five runs in the first inning before settling in
to pitch five scoreless innings.
Keuchel, the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner and a 2-time All-Star (2015, 2017),
will make his 18th start of the season and third against the Rangers
this year. He is 9-9 with a 4.03 ERA in 25 career games, all starts,
against Texas and is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in 17 1/3 innings versus the
Rangers in 2018.
Keuchel has not been as successful this season as over the past four seasons but
he’s still inducing a high ground ball rate and soft contact. He leads
the AL in groundball to fly-ball ratio (2.64), while ranking third in
soft contact percentage (23.1 percent).
Bibens-Dirkx will make his fifth start of the season and his first start against the
Astros. He’s coming off a no-decision against the San Diego Padres on
Tuesday, when he allowed two hits and struck out six in five scoreless
innings in a game that San Diego won 3-2. Bibens-Dirkx is 0-1 with a
3.18 ERA at home this season.
Bibens-Dirkx was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock before his June 20 start against
Kansas City for his second stint with Texas in 2018. He will be working
on regular four days’ rest; the Rangers are 2-2 in his four starts this
season.
Yannick Ngakoue has a knack for the
strip-sack
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hands of quarterbacks.
The Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end has 11 forced fumbles in two
seasons, including a momentum-turning one in a victory at Pittsburgh
last week. Ngakoue led the NFL with six forced fumbles during the
regular season to go along with 12 sacks, and could pose significant
problems for the New England Patriots (14-3) in the AFC championship
game Sunday.
If so, he might even get the recognition he feels he deserves.
A third-round draft pick from Maryland in 2016, Ngakoue has been somewhat
overshadowed with the Jaguars (12-6). Those perceived slights keep him
motivated and define him like no one else in Jacksonville’s locker room.
”Those scouts who passed me up and didn’t think I was good enough probably feel stupid right now,” Ngakoue said Wednesday.
The Jaguars feel fortunate to have him.
Although cornerback Jalen Ramsey , defensive end Calais Campbell and linebacker
Telvin Smith have garnered more accolades than Ngakoue, it would be easy
to argue that the pass-rushing specialist is as important to one of the
league’s top defenses as anyone.
Ngakoue has been involved in five of the eight touchdowns scored by
Jacksonville’s defense this season. Four of his strip-sacks went for
touchdowns, and he recovered a fumble in Week 17 at Tennessee that he
returned 67 yards for a score.
Overlooked? Not by his coaches and teammates.
”I tell him all the time, `When you start getting it like you’re going to
get very soon, just make sure you stay focused cause that is a
motivating factor and it should be,'” Campbell said. ”Everybody wants to
get your accolade and get your respect for how hard you work, but at
the end of the day, his biggest motivation is providing for his family
and his mother and really just trying to be the best.
”He wants to hopefully have a gold jacket one day. He has the potential to
do
so
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Ngakoue has 20 career sacks, the most by anyone in franchise history during a two-year span.
But his reputation around the league seems to be more as a hot-headed player than a can’t-block edge rusher.
That was evident in the wild-card game against Buffalo, when Bills guard
Richie Incognito seemingly targeted Ngakoue with trash talk that the
defensive end said went over the line and became ”weak racist slurs.”
”He is a very emotional player,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said. ”I think
people can feed off of that. He has had a very good year. He is still
the same type of guy that plays with a chip on his shoulder. I think we
all know that when we see him. He plays extremely hard. He goes 100 mph
every single play.”
Ngakoue’s approach wasn’t ideal as rookie. He often missed tackles and ran past
the ball in an attempt to get to quarterbacks. But he’s been more sound
in his second season, although his 30 tackles is what probably kept him
getting more Pro Bowl attention. He was a third alternate, which left
him feeling snubbed.
”I want to be the best at my position, period,” Ngakoue said. ”When you
talk about guys like Von Miller, you talk about guys like Khalil Mack,
you’ve got to put my name in there.
”I don’t feel like (I get enough credit). When you talk about our defense,
when you talk about edge rushers, I should be one of the guys being
talked about. There’s not too many guys who get the ball out and get
strip-sacks. Why am I not being talked about with the other guys?”
Another big game on the AFC’s biggest stage could change that.
”I want to wake guys up and for people to see,” he said.
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