Against Astros, Rangers counting on Evan Carter to carry hot bat into August

After a miserable first few months of the 2026 season, Texas Rangers center fielder Evan Carter finally showed just what he can do in July.

Carter posted a sub-.200 batting average in each of the first three months of the schedule, but delivered in July with a .315 average and a .912 OPS in 22 games. As the Rangers battle the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners for first place in American League West, manager Skip Schumaker and the Rangers will want to see two more months like July from Carter.

The Rangers will look to avoid a sweep on Sunday against the Astros as the teams conclude a three-game series in Houston. The home team won the first two games, 11-2 and 5-4. The Astros are on a 10-1 streak and lead the AL West by 1 1/2 games over the Rangers and three over the Mariners.

Carter didn’t have a hit on Saturday but he walked twice and scored, and Schumaker acknowleged the 23-year-old still has plenty of room to grow. Although he has appeared in 131 games from 2023-25, this is Carter’s first season assigned full-time to the MLB roster.

“The thing is about certain young guys is you have to allow them to develop and to play,” Schumaker said. “You can’t just not play them anymore because they have a bad week (or) a bad month if they’re young. It’s different if they’re 32 years old and they’ve had a chance before.

“He hasn’t played this many games in the major leagues this consistently maybe his whole career. That means he’s still learning. He’s still learning on the bases. The instinctual stuff he’s still growing with, and as far as the at-bats, you can see them continuing to get better and better each month. It’s not surprising to me.”

Right-hander Kumar Rocker (4-8, 4.03 ERA) has the starting assignment on Sunday for the Rangers. He earned a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners last Monday after allowing two runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. Rocker has won his past two starts, posting a 1.42 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings.

Rocker is 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA in two career starts against the Astros, both of which occured this season. He took a 9-3 home loss to Houston on July 11 after allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Right-hander Peter Lambert (8-5, 3.06 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Astros. He went 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in five starts last month with 32 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings. Lambert allowed two runs or fewer in each outing and has allowed more than two runs only once in his last 11 starts.

The Rangers are 8-3 in those games.

Lambert is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in three career appearances (two starts) against the Rangers. Both of those decisions came this season; he is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts against Texas in 2026.

The Astros moved right-hander Tatsuya Imai to the bullpen instead of giving him his scheduled turn in the rotation on Sunday. Imai (6-4, 5.83 ERA) has labored throughout his first MLB season after nine seasons of pitching in Japan.

In his most recent start, against the Los Angeles Angels last Monday, Imai failed to complete one inning for the third time this season. The Astros won 6-4, however.

“We’re going to work on a couple of things that we noticed in his last start,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Just trying to get him going that way. Hopefully we can give him a few innings (out of the bullpen), but if not, we’ve got a pretty good plan here moving forward to get him back (on track).”

–Field Level Media