The Texas Rangers (41-32) and St. Louis Cardinals (47-26) will open their weekend series with a Friday night matchup at Busch Stadium. The first pitch is set for 8:15 p.m. ET and will air on Fox Midwest, as well as MLB.com with a paid subscription.
The Rangers are making their first return to Busch Stadium since the 2011 World Series, in which home field advantage played a key contribution in the Cardinals' success. Texas enters winning three of four against the Oakland Athletics, bouncing back from a six-game skid that was their longest losing streak in three years. The Rangers managed to cut their deficit behind division leading Oakland to one game.
"Any win right now is special, especially against a good team like the A's, especially to win the series," shortstop Elvis Andrus said.
St. Louis enters with the best record in Major League Baseball. They were successful in their last two meetings at Busch Stadium, the memorable Game 6 which included clutch heroics from David Freese and a 6-2 World Series clinching win in Game 7.
"It's going to be fun to go back there. I know a lot of people are going to talk about Game 6, but it's just another game in the regular season for us," Andrus told the team's website. "You kind of go back and think how close we were, but things happen for a reason. It helped us as a team, and hopefully we get in that situation soon."
The Rangers will start Derek Holland (5-4), who looks to bounce back from three straight losses. The lefty allowed eight runs and 19 hits in 10 1/3 innings during his last two starts, dropping games to Cleveland and Toronto.
He will face Tyler Lyons (2-3), who has also faced recent struggles. The rookie is 0-3 with a 7.41 ERA in three starts this month after beginning his Major League career with a 2-0 record and a 1.29 ERA.
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