{"id":678615,"date":"2026-04-18T20:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678615\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:33:21","slug":"rangers-lineup-vs-mariners-texas-seeks-win-against-mariners-george-kirby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678615\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Lineup vs Mariners: Texas Seeks Win Against Mariners\u2019 George Kirby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/it-s-too-early-to-worry-about-rangers-joc-pederson-before-opening-day\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas Rangers<\/a> are trying to chip away at their reputation of not being able to win games in Seattle as they prepare for game two of their series with the Mariners on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/joc-pederson-should-rangers-considering-free-agent-signing-opening-day\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rangers<\/a> (11-9) beat the Mariners, 5-0, on Friday. Entering the game the Rangers were just 9-38 in Seattle since the beginning of the 2020 season, underscoring just how hapless Texas has been at T-Mobile Park. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">Last year the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/rangers-infielders-josh-jung-justin-foscue-getting-break-after-injuries\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rangers<\/a> went 3-11 in the season series. Now, as Texas enters Saturday\u2019s game, I tis 4-0 against Seattle, which includes the Rangers\u2019 three-game home sweep last week in Arlington.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">A win on Saturday would give the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/rangers\/onsi\/news\/josh-jung-stresses-rangers-unity-amid-tony-clark-s-mlbpa-resignation-01khrsqjzdgv\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rangers<\/a> a win for the series. But go back even further and the victory would give Texas back-to-back wins over the Mariners in Seattle for the first time since 2019. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6u\">It&#8217;s the sort of streak-breaking win that could allow the Rangers to put a bit of distance between itself and the rest of the division, which to this point has admittedly been treading water.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">The Rangers are facing Mariners right-hander George Kirby for the second time in two weeks. Texas beat Kirby and the Mariners, 3-2, in their first meeting and it marked the first time the Rangers had ever beaten Kirby. The lineup looks similar to what the Rangers used about 10 days ago.<\/p>\n<p>Rangers Lineup vs. Mariners for April 18<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Josh Jung in April:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd35 .400 AVG<br \/>\ud83d\udd35 1.082 OPS<br \/>\ud83d\udd35 5 Multi-Hit Games <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/K2MdO2lhNY\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/K2MdO2lhNY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Texas Rangers (@Rangers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rangers\/status\/2045366172514730332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">RF Brandon Nimmo (L)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">SS Corey Seager (L)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">LF Wyatt Langford<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">1B Jake Burger<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">DH Joc Pederson (L)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">3B Josh Jung<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">CF Evan Carter (L)<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">2B Ezequiel Duran<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">C Kyle Higashioka<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">What stands out in this lineup compared to the one the Rangers used against Kirby last week is that Josh Jung is in it. Jung got the day off and right now Jung is the hottest batter in the bottom half of the order. He\u2019s behind designated hitter Joc Pederson and that should help the left-handed DH see better pitches, as Kirby probably wants to tread lightly with Jung, who hit three doubles on Friday. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"80\">The Rangers aren&#8217;t stacking left-handers quite as high in the order as they did on Friday, but they have four lefties in the lineup, with Josh Smith and switch-hitter Sam Haggerty on the bench. Kirby was terrific when he faced the Rangers last week, but he gave up most of the damage to the bottom half of the order. The Nos. 5-9 hitters had six of the Rangers\u2019 seven hits and drove in all three runs. That&#8217;s the part of the lineup to watch on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Rangers are trying to chip away at their reputation of not being able to win games&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,4,149,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-678615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rangers","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-rangers","13":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116427621312960913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}