The above headline pretty much sums it up. Athletics starter Dallas Braden, who threw a perfect game May 9, brought some of his best stuff to the mound again. While he wasn’t perfect, he only allowed the Rangers four hits and walked no one in the 120-pitch complete-game shutout that muted a sellout crowd in Arlington.
The four Rangers hits each came in separate innings, which made it impossible to get anything going. For the record, Jorge Cantu doubled in the second, Josh Hamilton had an infield hit in the fourth, second baseman Alex Cora singled in his first game with the team in the eighth, and Elvis Andrus led off the ninth with a single.
Braden only stuck out one batter, but his strategy based on weak contact worked
Rangers’ starter Rich Harden continued to struggle with bouts of inconsistency. In his 4 1/3 innings, he gave up an RBI single in the first, had a 1-2-3 second, surrendered a 2-run shot in the third and delivered a 1-2-3 fourth before allowing three consecutive baserunners to reach with one out in the fifth. His final line reads like this: eight hits, four earned runs, two walks and two strikeouts.
Frank Francisco had to go on the disabled list with inflammation in his right ribcage muscle but no tear. Derek Holland, called up from AAA, took his spot in the bullpen and was immediately used as the long man Saturday. Holland came through in a big way, pitching 4 2/3 innings and allowing one run to complete the game after Harden left.
With the loss, the Rangers are 8 ½ games ahead of the Athletics in the AL West. On Sunday, Colby Lewis opposes Gio Gonzalez and tries to get his 10th win of the season for the eighth time. (Yes, you read that right!)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment