The Pirates are returning to PNC Park after getting swept in a three-game series by the New York Yankees, capping a 2-4 road trip. They lost 13-6 on Sunday and were outscored 27-13 in the series - their first in interleague play this season.
Kevin Millwood (2-5, 7.57 ERA) will start for the Rangers as he looks to begin turning around what has been the worst season of his 11-year career. He gave up seven runs and lasted only 3 2-3 innings in a 10-0 loss to Detroit on Wednesday.
The right-hander is 4-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 10 starts against the Pirates, but hasn't faced them since 2004 while he was with Philadelphia.
Pittsburgh's Zach Duke (2-6, 5.75) has also struggled this year, recording one victory in his last 11 starts. The left-hander is 0-3 with a 5.50 ERA in six games at PNC Park, where he was 9-4 with a 4.19 ERA in 17 starts last season.
Duke gave up five runs - four earned - in six innings Wednesday, not factoring in the decision in the Pirates' 6-5 loss to Washington.
Duke has never faced the Rangers. He's 0-1 with a 4.85 ERA in two career interleague starts.
Michael Young is once again Michael Young.
After a poor first month, Young has started lining balls all over the park. Young was still hitting .192 on May 3 after going 0-for-9 in a doubleheader against the New York Yankees, but after his fourth consecutive multi-hit game Sunday, Young's average was back to .284. Young has hit .362 since that dreadful doubleheader.
Young, who received a five-year, $80-million contract extension this spring, said he was spending too much time the first month trying to be the team's offensive leader instead of simply being who he is.
"I was trying to do everything to get the team going," Young told the Dallas Morning News. "I was trying to do too much to get us off to a quick start. I was trying to hit the five-run homer.
"But it's weird, I don't regret it."
Young lined a game-winning hit to right Saturday to cap a furious four-run rally with two outs in the ninth off previously unscathed Milwaukee closer Francisco Cordero. It was typical Young. After getting behind 0-and-1, he simply let the bat do the work for him.
"When he was struggling early in the year, he was hitting bullets at people," manager Ron Washington told the Morning News. "His approach hasn't changed, but his luck has."
NOTES, QUOTES
--The Rangers do not expect 1B Mark Teixeira back from his strained left quadriceps in the minimum amount of time. Teixeira, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday, is likely to miss at least three weeks.
--RHP Kevin Millwood, who starts Tuesday at Pittsburgh, is looking for his first win since April 13. Millwood is 0-4 with a 10.00 ERA in that span.
--OF Marlon Byrd has worked himself into the everyday lineup. Byrd, one of the last cuts of spring training, tore up the Pacific Coast League for the first six weeks of the season and has done the same in the big leagues. He was 4-for-6 in Sunday's 12-inning loss to Milwaukee, raising his average to .407. Byrd had consecutive bottom-of-the-ninth two-out game-tying hits over the weekend.
--C Gerald Laird is another Ranger starting to heat up at the plate. Laird is hitting .287 over the last month. He was hitting .186 on May 9. Laird, who has caught the second most innings in the AL this year, should get some more rest now that Adam Melhuse is on the roster. Manager Ron Washington is likely to trust Melhuse to catch more often than recently demoted Chris Stewart.
--1B John Mayberry Jr., the Rangers' top pick in the 2005 draft, was promoted from Class A Bakersfield to Class AA Frisco. Though he was hitting only .230 at Bakersfield, Mayberry led the California League with 16 home runs.
BY THE NUMBERS: 13 -- Consecutive games without an official quality start for the Rangers entering the week. The club ranked last in the
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I can do just as bad as them," RHP Blake Beavan, the Rangers' first-round draft selection on the club's last-ranked starting rotation. GM Jon Daniels later said Beavan showed bad judgment in making the comments.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
1B Mark Teixeira (strained quadriceps) left the game June 8 and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. It was his third injury in the last week -- he previously had a mild concussion and a stiff neck.
RHP Vicente Padilla (right arm soreness) missed his scheduled June 5 start but made his scheduled start against Milwaukee on June 10.
RHP Brandon McCarthy (finger blister) left his May 25 start after two innings. McCarthy could only throw 12 pitches in his May 27 bullpen session, and he missed his May 30 start. He threw a bullpen session on June 2 and started for the Rangers on June 9.
LHP John Rheinecker (back spasms) opened the season on the disabled list. He was activated on June 5.
3B Hank Blalock (thoracic outlet syndrome, in which a rib compresses a nerve in the arm) had surgery May 21 to have a rib removed. He will be out until at least late July.
OF Brad Wilkerson (pulled right hamstring) went on the disabled list on May 16. He began a rehab assignment on June 5 and could return to active duty on June 12.
LHP Ron Mahay (strained rib cage muscle) went on the disabled list retroactive to May 12.
RHP Jamey Wright (elbow) went on the disabled list retroactive to April 11. He began a rehab assignment with Class AAA Oklahoma on May 31 and is expected to return to the rotation on June 16.
INF Joaquin Arias (infected right thumb) opened the season on the disabled list. Once active, he will return to the minor leagues.
RHP Thomas Diamond ("Tommy John" surgery) underwent the procedure on March 20 and is out for the year.