Rangers finally on a roll, next dealing with Cards

The Texas Rangers, fresh off a sweep of the Kansas City Royals, hit the road for a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals starting Monday night, hopeful to bring their just-uncovered offense with them.

The Rangers' three-game winning streak is their longest since a three-gamer from April 6-8. They were 7-5 after that home sweep of the Seattle Mariners but just 21-26 since.

Texas broke out the bats over the weekend, scoring 22 runs and banging out 34 hits against the Royals. Even with that, the Rangers still have scored the seventh-fewest runs in MLB, with 237 over 59 games.

"The small ball was kind of what set the tone this series, especially at the bottom part of the order, and teed up some of the big boys to knock them in," Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said.

Josh Jung is enjoying a breakout season in Texas. The third baseman has hits in 10 of his last 11 contests. He has 16 hits in his last 43 at-bats (.372), and his .316 average for the season is the best of his five-year career by 50 points.

Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom (3-4, 3.77 ERA) gets the ball for Monday's opener. The two-time Cy Young winner, in search of his 100th win, last earned a victory on May 10 against the visiting Chicago Cubs.

While he owns a 5-2 mark in eight starts against St. Louis, the veteran pitcher has not fared well at Busch Stadium. He's 1-2 in three starts at St. Louis, with an 8.44 ERA.

He last faced the Cardinals in Arlington, Texas, on June 1, 2025, and got the win, giving up just a run on four hits and three walks over six innings in an 8-1 victory.

St. Louis enters the series having won just two of its last seven, but those victories came in the weekend series against the visiting Cubs. After Sunday's 5-1 win, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol noted the team, which entered the season as the youngest in the majors, endured a grueling May.

"They continue to compete," Marmol said. "They continue to grow. There's going to be games that don't look the way you would want, but at the same time, I just love the mentality going into each series."

One of those promising young players is JJ Wetherholt. The rookie second baseman has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games. Over that span, Wetherholt has hit .318 (14-for-44) and raised his season average 17 points to .250.

The Cardinals will start Michael McGreevy (3-4, 2.98), who is coming off his worst start of the year. The right-hander gave up a season-high five runs on seven hits and three walks across four innings last Tuesday against the Brewers, the shortest stint of his 11 2026 starts.

This will mark the first time McGreevy faces the Rangers. Should he falter, St. Louis will have a fresher bullpen available thanks to Hunter Dobbins. The right-hander was scheduled to start for Triple-A Memphis on Sunday, but the Cardinals called him up instead, with the plan to pitch him after their starter, Matthew Liberatore.

Dobbins pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to save Sunday's game. He also saved Marmol from needing to use a relief corps that had pitched 10 2/3 innings in the previous two games.

--Field Level Media