If the Houston Astros are heading into a two-game series against rival Texas with the idea that they’ll be able to push around the rebuilding Rangers and get back on track after three straight losses Authentic Brent Burns Jersey , maybe it’s time to think again.

The Astros will send struggling left-hander Dallas Keuchel (4-8, 4.22 ERA) to the mound in the first game of the series on Tuesday at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Texas will counter with right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-1, 3.57).

Houston lost three straight games in Tampa Bay last weekend, including a 3-2 setback on Sunday, and dropped its first series since May 28-30 at Yankee Stadium.

The Astros were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position on Sunday and 0-for-14 in the series. Houston managed just seven runs in the four-game series — all on homers, including two solo shots Sunday by Evan Gattis.

It was the Astros’ fewest runs in a four-game series on the road since they scored five at Tropicana Field against the Rays in 2014.

“We didn’t do enough to win the game or the series,” Astros manager AJ Hinch told mlb.com. “We made some mental errors, we had some big moments that they executed some pitches. One-run games, a couple of losses this series, are tough to swallow. We’ll take it to the next city, but this one sucks.”

The Rangers, meanwhile, have been as hot as the triple-digit temperatures in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Texas is 12-6 since the Astros swept a four-game series from them in Arlington on June 7-10 and have won a season-best five straight series Tremaine Edmunds Color Rush Jersey , including taking two of three games last weekend at home against the White Sox.

Texas ended that series with a 10-5 loss on Sunday in which ace starter Cole Hamels struggled, allowing a season-high seven earned runs and nine hits, which matched his high for the year.

Hamels, who has been the constant subject of trade talks for the past month, said afterward that he was blocking out that talk and it had no effect on his performance.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s out of my control,” Hamels said. “I have to go and pitch, and hopefully that’ll be the last time I have to answer that question.”

Keuchel took a no-decision in his last start on June 27 against Toronto, allowing six runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of the Astros’ 7-6 comeback victory. He surrendered five runs in the first inning before settling in to pitch five scoreless innings.

Keuchel, the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner and a 2-time All-Star (2015, 2017), will make his 18th start of the season and third against the Rangers this year. He is 9-9 with a 4.03 ERA in 25 career games, all starts, against Texas and is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in 17 1/3 innings versus the Rangers in 2018.

Keuchel has not been as successful this season as over the past four seasons but he’s still inducing a high ground ball rate and soft contact. He leads the AL in groundball to fly-ball ratio (2.64) Adidas Claude Giroux Jersey , while ranking third in soft contact percentage (23.1 percent).

Bibens-Dirkx will make his fifth start of the season and his first start against the Astros. He’s coming off a no-decision against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, when he allowed two hits and struck out six in five scoreless innings in a game that San Diego won 3-2. Bibens-Dirkx is 0-1 with a 3.18 ERA at home this season.

Bibens-Dirkx was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock before his June 20 start against Kansas City for his second stint with Texas in 2018. He will be working on regular four days’ rest; the Rangers are 2-2 in his four starts this season.

Another offseason, another new head coach for quarterback Marcus Mariota to get to know along with a different offense.

Yes, a little experience with such changes can help make transitions a bit easier.

It's not something Mariota wants to become a way of life in the NFL.

"But I think being able to have gone through that situation before, it's helped all of us to be ready and prepared for this new stuff," Mariota said Wednesday.

Mariota, the No. 2 pick overall in the 2015 draft, is heading into his fourth season with the Tennessee Titans with his third different head coach. He started with Ken Whisenhunt, who lasted only seven games into Mariota's rookie season. The Titans fired his replacement, Mike Mularkey, in January despite back-to-back 9-7 seasons and their first playoff win in 14 years.

Now first-time head coach Mike Vrabel is in charge with Matt LaFleur as his offensive coordinator and Pat O'Hara as quarterbacks coach. The Titans hired Vrabel wanting more out of both their offense and Mariota, whose fifth-year option was just picked up.

"It's a process. It takes some time," Mariota said. "Everybody is doing their best to learn the playbook Authentic Ed Dickson Jersey , learn about each other. It takes time and I think a lot of the guys would probably say the same thing. As we go through this process, if we continue to learn more about each other, we continue to communicate, all the stuff on the field will take care of itself."

Mariota is the youngest quarterback in franchise history to lead the team to a playoff victory with an amazing 18-point comeback in a wild-card win at Kansas City . He also became the fifth quarterback in NFL history with at least 9,000 yards passing (9,476) and at least 900 yards rushing (913) in his first three seasons.

But Mariota also had more interceptions (15) than touchdown passes (13) last season, though he had four TDs and only one interception in two playoff games.

Luckily for Mariota and the Titans, the quarterback is as healthy as he's been since being drafted at this time of year. His rookie season ended with a sprained knee, and he broke his right leg in the next-to-last game of his second season. A year ago, he wasn't allowed on the field while he recovered .

"It's kind of crazy to think about where I was last season at this time, and now here I am today," Mariota said. "Being able to run out there and compete, and practice with these guys Jets Chris Herndon Jersey , it's night and day and I'm just excited to be out there with the guys."

Mariota got to work on chemistry with some of his wide receivers in March in California.

The process of learning the new playbook started April 9 with the start of the Titans' offseason program, and Wednesday was the second of a three-day voluntary minicamp the Titans were allowed with Vrabel being a new coach. This is all new for Mariota along with Blaine Gabbert, signed in March as Mariota's new backup.

Learning the new names for the plays is the first hurtle. Vrabel said he knows players tend to look at a play call and translate to what they used to call it.

"You have to try to train them to understand the new language and the verbage," Vrabel said. "I think there's also a give and take where, 'OK, if everybody is familiar with that, well then we'll make it that or we'll call it that.' I think that's where you try to blend the different systems."

Mariota isn't tipping how different this offense might look just yet either. He's focused on learning and making sure the offense is on the same page.

"It's an ongoing thing," Mariota said. "But, I love learning and doing my best to put everything that we learn out on the field."

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