Rangers @ Athletics

Who will WIN this matchup?

Texas Rangers (31-49)

@ Oakland Athletics (48-34)

Starting Pitchers:

Dunning (TEX): 3-6; 4.62 ERA

Manaea (OAK) 6-4; 2.91 ERA

Current odds:

Texas Rangers: (+155)

Oakland Athletics: (-170)

• Right-hander Dane Dunning gets an opportunity to relive the shortest and most important start of his young career when the Texas Rangers and host Oakland Athletics wrap up their three-game series on Thursday afternoon. The clubs have split the first two games of the set, and in fact have alternated wins and losses over a six-game span that began last Monday in Texas.

• The 26-year-old Dunning (3-6, 4.63 ERA) hasn’t pitched in any of the six games, and he has never gone head-to-head with the A’s in the regular season in his two seasons. But pitching last year for the Chicago White Sox, Dunning was called upon to start the decisive Game 3 of the American League Wild Card series in Oakland. Dunning did his job as an “opener,” holding the A’s without a run despite leaving after facing just four batters and allowing hits to two of them — Tommy La Stella and Mark Canha. Garrett Crochet came on to strike out Matt Olson to end the first, but Oakland eventually rallied from a 3-0 deficit to advance to the A.L. Divisional Series against the Houston Astros with a 6-4 win. Dunning was dealt to the Rangers along with minor leaguer Avery Weems in December for Lance Lynn.

• Dunning is coming off a 9-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday. He allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. He benefited from a four-run fourth inning that included a single by Joey Gallo, one of seven hits the slugger has recorded in his last five games. Every other hit Gallo has logged in the stretch has been a home run, including a solo shot in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 3-1 loss.

• The pitcher who will be assigned to keep Gallo’s baseballs in the ballpark is A’s left-hander Sean Manaea (6-4, 2.91), who has allowed one hit to Gallo — a home run — in 15 career head-to-head matchups. Manaea has dominated the other 14, striking out the slugger seven times as he’s gone 0-for-12 with a walk and a hit batsman. The 29-year-old has gone 6-0 in his last eight starts against Texas dating back to April 2017. In 13 career starts against the Rangers, he’s 7-2 with a 3.41 ERA. Manaea will take the mound riding a two-game losing streak, but he pitched well in both, giving up a total of three runs and six hits in 11 1/3 innings on the road against the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants.

• Promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas a day earlier, Frank Schwindel made an immediate impression on A’s fans in Wednesday’s win, crushing a two-run home run in his first Oakland at-bat.