Los Angeles Angels Probable Pitchers & Starting Lineup vs. Texas Rangers, June 12

The Los Angeles Angels open up a crucial four-game series in Texas against the red-hot Rangers. Texas enters the series with a record of 41-23, the second-best record in all of baseball only behind the Rays. This is a big prove-it series for the Angels. They're coming off a 5-1 homestand, but both teams they played were sub-.500. The Angels have yet to prove they can beat good teams, so putting on a good showing against the Rangers would be a great thing to see.

Probable starting pitchers

The Halos open up this series with Tyler Anderson taking the ball. Anderson, after a string of five solid starts, has had two clunkers in a row to bump his season ERA up to 5.62. The southpaw allowed four runs in five innings against the Cubs his last time out, but all four of the runs came in the second inning. Anderson did finish strongly, and can hopefully take that into this start tonight. Anderson faced Texas earlier this season and alllowed three runs (two earned) in five innings of work.

The Rangers will counter with right-hander Dane Dunning. The 28-year-old is in the midst of his best MLB season thus far, as he's posted a 2.52 ERA in 14 appearances (six starts). Dunning has been a fixture in the Rangers rotation since the beginning of May, and Texas has needed his strong output with the absence of Jacob deGrom. Dunning made his first start of the season against Anderson ironically enough and delivered five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits. The Angels did come back against the Texas bullpen and steal that game.

Los Angeles Angels starting lineup

1. Taylor Ward - LF
2. Shohei Ohtani - DH
3. Mike Trout - CF
4. Anthony Rendon - 3B
5. Matt Thaiss - C
6. Brandon Drury - 2B
7. Hunter Renfroe - RF
8. Jared Walsh - 1B
9. Zach Neto - SS

Texas Rangers starting lineup

1. Marcus Semien - 2B
2. Corey Seager - SS
3. Nathaniel Lowe - 1B
4. Adolis Garcia - RF
5. Josh Jung - 3B
6. Jonah Heim - C
7. Mitch Garver - DH
8. Ezequiel Duran - LF
9. Leody Taveras - CF

Which LA Angels player needs to bounce back today?

The Angels had a big offensive showing scoring nine runs on 13 hits yesterday, but Jared Walsh failed to get in on the action. Walsh went hitless in four at-bats and he has just one hit in 22 at-bats with ten strikeouts in the month of June. He's starting tonight, but it's hard to envision Walsh getting many more chances if he continues to fail to do anything offensively. Fortunately, he's torn the cover off the ball against Dunning with six hits in 11 at-bats with a couple of home runs.

Which LA Angels player will be the X-factor in today's game?

Another slumping Angel in need of a breakout is Anthony Rendon. The Angels third baseman has one hit in 13 at-bats since his return from the Injured List. Rendon is another Angel with good numbers against Dunning with five hits in 12 at-bats with a couple of RBI. This could be a good night for him to break out in what's an important game for the Angels to set the tone.