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On June 7 Logan Paulsen Color Rush Jersey , the Colorado Rockies were tied for first place in the National League West and riding high. In the week since, the Rockies have lost five straight games and come to the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Friday with as many questions as answers about themselves as the season heads into the dog days of summer.

Colorado begins a three-game interleague series with the Texas Rangers, a team also in search of answers, at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

The Rockies will send right-hander Chad Bettis (4-1, 4.40 ERA) to the mound for the opening game and the Rangers will counter with Yohander Mendez (0-0, 0.00).

Colorado activated right-handed reliever Adam Ottavino from the disabled list Thursday, and manager Bud Black said Ottavino would go right back into his late-game role.

Ottavino had a 0.95 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings before going to the disabled with a left oblique injury. The team went 5-9 without him in the lineup.

“Otto feels that he wants to jump right back into the mix of pitching deep in the game,” Black told mlb.com. “He’s ready for that. He doesn’t necessarily want to ease back in. Physically, he made it a point of emphasis to get his body in the best shape possible in the offseason. The year before Da'Shawn Hand Color Rush Jersey , it wasn’t the case.”

Ottavino did not see action in the Rockies’ 9-3 loss at Philadelphia but will be ready when Colorado takes on hapless Texas.

The Rangers will attempt to end a six-game losing streak that included a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in 11 innings in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

With one out and the bases loaded, the Dodgers‘ Austin Barnes dribbled what appeared to be a sure out at home in front of Rangers reliever Matt Bush. However, Bush’s throw to home for the force pulled catcher Carlos Perez off the plate, allowing Enrique Hernandez to score the deciding run.

Texas is now a season-worst 18 games back of the first-place Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros in the American League West after suffering a two-game sweep by the Dodgers.

Bettis gave up three home runs and lasted just four innings in his last start, a home loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The good news is his velocity returned after a dip for three starts. He is a Lubbock, Texas, native who pitched at Texas Tech University.

Bettis will make his 14th start of the season and his eighth on the road. He has no-decisions and a 7.67 ERA in his past six starts since May 11.

Bettis has pitched against Texas only once, getting a no-decision on Aug. 11, 2016, in Arlington http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-mason-rudolph-jersey , a 12-9 Rockies win.

Mendez will make his first big league start Friday. In 10 minor league starts this season, he has an 0-6 record with a 5.26 ERA. In one relief appearance with the Rangers this year, he didn’t allow a run in two-thirds of an inning.

Mendez, who is ranked the Rangers’ seventh-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, has joined the ballclub from Triple-A Round Rock. He has been a September call-up for Texas each of the past two seasons, and featured with the Rangers earlier this season when he was called up May 3.

In 10 career major league appearances — all in relief — Mendez has posted a 0-1 record with a 7.31 ERA (13 earned runs in 16 innings).

“It’s going to be multiple starts,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said Wednesday about Mendez’s upcoming major league stint. “He’s going to have the opportunity to show us what he can do as a starter.

“We’re still in the business of winning baseball games,” Banister added. “It’s about development, but it is the big leagues, and you still develop and still give yourself the opportunity to win baseball games.”

CLEVELAND Dallas Goedert Color Rush Jersey , Ohio — LeBron James maintains that “Game 7” are two of the greatest words in sports.

If this one Sunday in this first-round playoff series between the Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers doesn’t go Cleveland’s way, they could become two of the most cursed words in this town.

It starts with this: a loss for the Cavs could be the last game James ever plays in a Cleveland uniform.

“The thought of if we don’t play well it will be my last game of the year, that will probably hit my mind, but I haven’t thought about that,” James said Friday, after the Pacers routed the Cavs 121-87 to force Game 7.

James can be a free agent at season’s end. Though he’s never said he intends to leave Cleveland again, at present it appears the Cavs’ roster is in no shape to compete for championships as James heads into the twilight of his career.

James has never lost a first-round series. Dropping one now would not go far to erase any of James’ doubts about the direction of this franchise.

His alleged wingman, Kevin Love, is averaging 11 points in this series and shooting 32.4 percent (22 of 68) in this series. No other Cavs player is averaging double figures.

The Pacers, meanwhile Tanner Lee Color Rush Jersey , beat Cleveland three of four in the regular season and scored the most lopsided win in the franchise’s playoff history in Game 6 to force this last game. Victor Oladipo became the third Pacer to post a playoff triple double (28 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) in Game 6 and Domantas Sabonis is shooting 74.2 percent (26 of 35) over the last three games.

“Going back to Cleveland, we feel we got a chance,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. “We got to play better than we did even tonight to win that game. But we definitely feel we have a chance.”

James is 4-2 all time in Game 7s. This is the first Game 7 at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs, who are 3-2 in Game 7s, last won one in the 2016 Finals against the Golden State Warriors. James, Love, JR Smith, and Tristan Thompson are the only players left on that team.

Last year Tremaine Edmunds Color Rush Jersey , Rodney Hood played for a Utah Jazz team that beat the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7 of the first round to advance to a Western Conference semifinal.

“It’s just the love of the game and wanting to be remembered,” James said. “Win or go home. It’s just that simple.”

The Pacers are 3-5 in Game 7s and 2-5 on the road. Indiana is also trying to avoid being eliminated by a James team (Cavs, Heat) for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.

“The pressure is on both teams,” McMillan said. “The loser goes home. So, for us, we take it one game at a time and we prepare ourselves for that next game. The next game is on the road. We understand the conditions we’re playing in, but to say they feel more pressure than us? No. The losers go home. So there’s pressure on both teams.

“We’re not going to be satisfied with just going up there and playing a good game and losing it,” McMillan continued. “We have an opportunity and we’re going to go and try and take advantage of it.”

Former Pacer and current Cavaliers point guard George Hill said he would try to play Sunday. He’s missed the last three games with back spasms. Jose Calderon has started in his place.