Atlanta Braves (75-73) at Texas Rangers (56-91), 3:05 p.m. (ET)
(SportsNetwork.com) - So much for taking advantage of a favorable matchup.
The Atlanta Braves will try to salvage the finale of a three-game series with the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon after initially failing to better their playoff chances against the last-place club.
The Braves were looking to gain some ground in the National League's wild card race in this set with the Rangers, who own the worst record in baseball and had lost 11 of 12 coming in.
However, Texas has notched a pair of one-run victories to win consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 24-25, while Atlanta has now lost eight of its last 11 to sit three games out of a wild card spot.
Julio Teheran carried a no-hitter through five innings on Saturday, but ended up yielding three unearned runs over eight innings to suffer a tough-luck 3-2 loss.
"He went from no hits to giving up a few hits to losing the ball game, but he pitched well," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez.
Rougned Odor delivered a two-run double in the sixth inning that proved to be the difference for the Rangers, while Elvis Andrus added an RBI. Both hits came with two outs and followed a fielding error by Atlanta's Justin Upton.
Lisalverto Bonilla grabbed his first major-league win after allowing two runs on four hits and four walks over six innings of work.
"I was really happy with what he did," Rangers interim manager Tim Bogar said of Bonilla. "For the most part, he pounded the strike zone and I thought his breaking balls were key to the whole thing."
The Braves will try to lend starter Mike Minor some offensive help today as the left-hander has pitched to a 2.59 earned run average over his last six starts but with just a 2-3 record to show for it.
Minor has seen Atlanta score only once in his last two starts, a pair of losses that have dropped him to 6-10 on the year with a 4.58 earned run average.
The 26-year-old gave up three runs over 7 1/3 frames of a 4-0 loss to Philadelphia on Sept. 2, then held Washington to two runs in six innings of a 2-1 setback on Monday.
Minor has never faced the Rangers.
Though coming off a second straight loss, the Rangers wouldn't mind seeing Colby Lewis duplicate his last start in today's finale.
Lewis, who has lost five of his past six starts, was on the losing side of a 9-3 decision to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, though the righty was touched for just three runs -- two earned -- on five hits over seven innings. He also struck out four and did not walk a batter.
It marked Lewis' third straight outing of at least seven innings of work.
"He just got stronger and stronger. I think he's feeling healthy," said Bogar of Lewis, who is 9-13 with a 5.29 ERA this year.
The 35-year-old has faced Atlanta once before back in 2011 and struck out 10 over 6 2/3 innings of a victory. Both runs he allowed came on solo homers.
This is the first meeting between these teams since the Rangers took two of three back in 2011. It's also Atlanta's first visit to Arlington since 2008.