“Fortunately Nelson put a good swing on one there at the end and it went out of the park, so it was good to see,” starter Cliff Lee said.
Cruz is 9 for 20 with two homers on this homestand to extend his career-best hitting streak to 15 games while Young is 7 for 18 with three homers to push his run to nine. Each player has driven in four runs over the last five contests.
The Rangers are 4-3 against the Athletics, with Young going 9 for 27 and Josh Hamilton 12 for 31. Vladimir Guerrero, 3 for 20 on this homestand, is 9 for 33 with nine RBIs against Oakland in 2010.
Texas has an AL-best 2.60 ERA since the All-Star break, although Lee did not win Tuesday. Lee struck out a career-high 13 and scattered five hits in a nine-inning effort that failed to produce his 100th career victory.
“It’s too bad we couldn’t get (Lee) the win, but the team got the win and that’s all that matters,” manager Ron Washington said.
The second game of this series features the third matchup this year between Oakland’s Trevor Cahill (9-4, 3.15 ERA) and Texas’ Colby Lewis (9-6, 3.52). The Athletics won the first two in May, with Cahill going 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA while Lewis went 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA.
Cahill improved to 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA in six career outings against the Rangers. Young is 5 for 10 with three walks against him, but Cruz is hitless in seven at-bats with one walk.
The right-hander has a streak of 16 straight starts in which he has allowed six hits or fewer - the longest such streak in Oakland history. He has a .204 opponent batting average to rank second in the league behind Texas’ C.J. Wilson, who will start Thursday’s finale.
Cahill gave up three runs over seven innings Friday in a 5-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Lewis, meanwhile, is 2-1 with a 4.05 ERA in six career starts against Oakland. He gave up four runs over seven innings last Wednesday in a 4-1 loss at Detroit.
The right-hander is 5-1 with a 3.40 ERA in eight home starts.
By Santosh Venkataraman
Forecast: Cahill seems to have the Rangers number. If the A's are going to take one in this three game series, tonight would be the strongest chance, not at who we are bringing to the table in Lewis, but in what the A's have to offer. I would be more apt to pick the Rangers, but the bats have slowed down of late, and when that happens, the pitching has to pick up (a la last night, Lee was phenominal). And, I don't see too many 1-1 ties going into extra innings in our future. This one goes to the A's tonight, look for a score of something around 5-3.
3 Random Thoughts:
What was nuts is that I was thinking originally 3-1, but I kept thinking that they could start sparking the bats together and muster together 3 runs in a losing effort. 4 HITS today by the Rangers and three errors. YUCK!!!
Post a Comment