Athletics vs. Rangers: Hideki Matsui Hits Walk-Off To Secure A's Series Victory

The Oakland Athletics wrapped up their four game series with the Texas Rangers and might finally have a little bit of momentum on their side. The A’s took three of the four games to improve to 15-14 and climb to within a game of the Rangers and Angels, who are both tied for first in the AL West. The A’s rode a combination of strong starting and bullpen pitching and timely hitting to victory.

A’s Pitcher of the Series: Brian Fuentes – While Fuentes only notched one save in the series, his solid pitching thus far is worth a mention. He has blown two saves and given up six runs in 14 appearances, but given what could have happened when Andrew Bailey went down with his forearm injury, I’d say Fuentes has done a good enough job so far. The A’s brought Fuentes in as a set-up man, but given Bailey’s injury last year it was also a bit of an insurance policy. Through a little over one month of the season, the A’s have collected on that policy and bought themselves time for Bailey to take his time returning from the DL.

A’s Hitter of the Series: Kurt Suzuki – The proud new papa had a very solid series against the Rangers with some timely home runs. He finished the series 6-for-16 with five RBIs (at least one in each game) and three runs scored. As is the case with Suzuki, the offense wasn’t spectacular, but he got the team hits when needed. He’s not a guy who will be putting up monster offensive numbers during his career, but he’s rebounding quite nicely after a subpar 2010. Through one month of the season he is seventh among all catchers in OPS while continuing to call an excellent game behind the plate and providing stellar defense.

Upcoming Schedule: The A’s welcome the Cleveland Indians to town at a time when the Indians have compiled the best record in baseball (19-8). The Indians are tied with the Rangers for the American League lead in runs scored while also giving up the fewest runs in the AL. The A’s will look to build on the momentum gained in their series victory over the Rangers.

Series Results
Friday: A’s 3 – Rangers 1
WP: Trevor Cahill (4-0)
LP: C.J. Wilson (3-1)
Sv: Brian Fuentes (7)

Saturday: Rangers 11 – A’s 2
WP: Colby Lewis (2-3)
LP: Brett Anderson

Sunday: A’s 7 – Rangers 2
WP: GIo Gonzalez (3-2)
LP: Matt Harrison (3-3)

Monday: A’s 5 – Rangers 4
WP: Grant Balfour (2-1)
LP: Darren Oliver (1-3)

The Oakland Athletics continued their winning start to May as they defeated the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Monday courtesy of a walk-off homerun in the tenth by designated hitter Hideki Matsui. Grant Balfour escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the tenth and Matsui ended the game with his swing on the first pitch of the bottom of the tenth.

A’s starter Brandon McCarthy struggled with at times but made it through six innings. He gave up four runs but all were unearned due to errors. Of course, they were due to two errors by Brandon McCarthy so it is a little difficult to qualify them as truly “unearned.” Nonetheless, McCarthy kept the A’s in the game long enough to get a close battle turned over to the A’s solid bullpen.

The A’s offense took an early lead in the second inning on a Cliff Pennington bunt single. Texas bounced back with two runs in the top of the third on a MIchael Young double to deep left center. After Kurt Suzuki evened it up, Texas added two more runs in the fifth inning. Fortunately for McCarthy and the A’s, the normally inconsistent offense was able to scratch through a pair of runs to tie it up heading into the ninth inning.

Craig Breslow, Brad Ziegler, Michael Wuertz and Brian Fuentes all did their jobs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, before Grant Balfour ran into trouble in the tenth. Balfour struck out Michael Young, but then walked three of the next four hitters around a Nelson Cruz fly out. Fortunately for the A’s, Balfour struck out Yorvit Torrealba swinging to end the threat.

In the bottom of the tenth, Hideki Matsui ended things as he hit an absolute no-doubter to right field. Rangers relief pitcher Darren Oliver fired in his first pitch out 88 miles per hour and it was right in Matsui’s wheelhouse.

The A’s victory gets them back over .500 for the first time since April 19 when they beat the Boston Red Sox to improve to 9-8. They are now 15-14, sitting one game back of the Texas Rangers and one and a half back of the Los Angeles Angels. They open up a three game series with the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday before heading on the road for six games.

The Oakland Athletics look to wrap up their four game series with the Texas Rangers buy securing a 3-1 series victory. The A’s have bounced around the .500 mark all season but the AL West remains a tight division race. The Rangers and Angels are currently tied for first, while the A’s sit a mere two games back.

The A’s send out Brandon McCarthy who was roughed up for the first time this season in his last start. He gave up seven earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, which was his shortest outing of the season. He’ll look to bounce back against an always solid Rangers offense.

Oakland Athletics
1. Mark Ellis® 2B
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. Conor Jackson® RF
4. Josh Willingham® LF
5. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
6. Kurt Suzuki® C
7. David DeJesus (L) CF
8. Andy LaRoche® 3B
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS

Texas Rangers
1. Elvis Andrus® SS
2. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B
3. Michael Young® 2B
4. Adrian Beltre® DH
5. Nelson Cruz® RF
6. David Murphy (L) LF
7. Chris Davis (L) 3B
8. Taylor Teagarden® C
9. Julio Borbon (L) CF

(Sports Network) – The AL West-leading Texas Rangers shoot for a split of a four-game series with the Oakland Athletics Monday afternoon at the Coliseum. The Rangers have lost three of four and five of their last seven games, and are coming off Sunday’s 7-2 loss to the A’s in the third test of this set. Matt Harrison had a rough outing on the mound and lasted only 1 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and six hits with a strikeout and two walks.

“I just need to go back and keep it simple,” Harrison said. “Don’t think about too much or dwell on what’s happened the past two starts. I need to go back to where I was in Spring Training and trust my stuff. I’m not trusting my stuff.”

Ian Kinsler and Michael Young each had an RBI, while Elvis Andrus and David Murphy finished with two hits apiece for Texas, which committed three errors in the game and failed to build off Saturday’s 11-2 triumph. Andrus is riding a seven-game hitting streak.

Looking to pitch Texas to a series tie Monday will be Derek Holland and the left-hander’s 3-1 with a 5.12 earned run average in five starts. He did not record a decision the previous time out last Wednesday in a 7-6 win versus Toronto, as he gave up five runs and 11 hits in five innings. Holland has allowed five runs in each of his last three starts and owns a 1-1 record with a 2.63 ERA in six career meetings (3 starts) with Oakland.

The Athletics have won five of their last eight games and received a decent outing from Gio Gonzalez in Sunday’s win. Gonzalez held the Rangers to a pair of runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings with seven K’s and two walks.

“He was pretty much in command and had a great breaking ball,” A’s manager Bob Geren said of Gonzalez.

Conor Jackson and Kurt Suzuki both had two hits and two RBI for Oakland, which got two hits, an RBI and a run scored from Coco Crisp. Hideki Matsui also plated a run in a winning effort.

Taking the ball for the A’s this afternoon will be Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy is coming off back-to-back losses and recently toed the rubber in last Tuesday’s 8-3 loss in Anaheim. He was reached for seven runs and 14 hits in 5 1/3 frames to fall to 1-2 on the season with a 3.57 ERA.

McCarthy, who will be making his sixth start of 2011, is 1-2 with a 3.94 ERA in four career games, two of which have been starts, against Texas.

Texas held a 10-9 edge in the 2010 season series with Oakland while the A’s won 11 of 19 matchups a year prior.

The Oakland Athletics continued to ping pong around the .500 mark as they defeated the Texas Rangers 7-2 Sunday afternoon and improved to 14-14. The A’s have been over the .500 mark one time this season, but otherwise have bounced between .500 and two games below .500. Much of this has come from wildly inconsistent offense, which was not an issue today as the A’s gave Gio Gonzalez plenty of support.

Oakland jumped on top of the Rangers early thanks to some timely hitting. Conor Jackson hit an RBI double in the first to knock in two runs, followed by a Kurt Suzuki RBI single. Coco Crisp added a run with a two-out RBI-single in the second to give the A’s a 4-0 lead. The A’s added two more in the third with a Matsui double and Cliff Pennington single. They capped their scoring with a Suzuki RBI single in the seventh.

Gio Gonzalez was efficient behind those runs as he went into the seventh inning. After giving up a run in the sixth, Gonzalez left with men on first and second and two outs in the seventh. Ian Kinsler hit an RBI double that should have plated two, but Mitch Moreland was held up at third base. The Rangers opened the ninth with a pair of singles off Craig Breslow, but Brian Fuentes retired the side to escape the jam.

The two teams wrap up their four game series with a rare Monday get-away day game. Brandon McCarthy faces Derek Holland at 12:35pm pacific. The game will be broadcast on CSN California.

The Oakland Athletics host the Texas Rangers in game three of a four game set at the Oakland Coliseum this afternoon. The A’s send out Gio Gonzalez who is looking to snap a two-game losing streak. The A’s have lost his last three starts, although the first of those three was due to a lack of run support as he shut out the Tigers for six innings before leaving with a high pitch count.

The A’s get Coco Crisp back into the lineup after he missed three games with a strained quad. In Crisp’s return, David DeJesus gets the day off while Conor Jackson gets another start in right field. Additionally, Andy LaRoche gets another start at third base after a 2-for-4 performance yesterday.

Oakland Athletics
1. Coco Crisp (S) CF
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. Conor Jackson® RF
4. Josh Willingham® LF
5. Kurt Suzuki® C
6. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
7. Mark Ellis® 2B
8. Andy LaRoche® 3B
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS

Texas Rangers
1. Ian Kinsler® 2B
2. Elvis Andrus® SS
3. Michael Young® DH
4. Adrian Beltre® 3B
5. Nelson Cruz® LF
6. Mike Napoli® 1B
7. David Murphy (L) CF
8. Yorvit Torrealba® C
9. Mitch Moreland (L) RF

Oakland, CA (Sports Network) – Home runs by Nelson Cruz, Michael Young, and Mike Napoli helped lead the Rangers to an 11-2 rout of the Athletics to split the first two of a four-game series. Colby Lewis (2-3) allowed two runs and scattered six hits and one walk through eight innings as Texas snapped a two-game slide.

Brett Anderson (2-2) was beat up for seven runs on nine hits in five innings of work. He walked four and struck out three for Oakland, which has lost three of five. Kurt Suzuki hit a solo home run in the second and Josh Willingham led off the fourth with a homer to account for two runs.

Adrian Beltre doubled to score Elvis Andrus in the first after Andrus walked, moved to second on a Young groundout, and stole third. Young’s two-run shot to left field in the third made the score 3-1. Young and Beltre led off the fifth with singles and then Cruz hammered a low and inside fastball over the left field wall that curved around the foul pole. Napoli followed with a bomb to center field to make the score 7-2 in favor of Texas.

Ian Kinsler hit a double in the eighth to plate David Murphy and give the Rangers their eighth run. Yorvit Torrealba’s two-run double with the bases loaded and Julio Borbon’s RBI single in the ninth completed the rout.

The Rangers are now 7-10 in their last 17 games after opening the season 9-1…Texas has 25 hits over the last two games against Oakland…Lewis threw 71 of his 109 pitches for strikes.

The Oakland Athletics look to grab a second straight win against the division leading Texas Rangers. A win will get them to within a single game of the Rangers. The Angels are also playing right now, which means we could get closer to quite the log jam in the AL West. The Angels and Rangers are currently tied for first, the A’s are two back, and the Mariners are three and a half back.

The A’s will be without Coco Crisp for the third straight game, and the A’s are going with David DeJesus at the top of the lineup. The one noticable change is Andy LaRoche at third base. LaRoche started strong but faded after a couple weeks. He’s been on the bench for nine days and hasn’t take a swing in ten.

The A’s will send out Brett Anderson to face Colby Lewis. Anderson is only 2-1 but he’s been Oakland’s best pitcher through the first month of the season. On the other side of things, Lewis is struggling through the first month of the season, sitting at 1-3 with a 6.95 ERA.

Oakland Athletics
1. David DeJesus (L) CF
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. Conor Jackson® RF
4. Josh Willingham® LF
5. Hideki Matsui (L) DH
6. Kurt Suzuki® C
7. Mark Ellis® 2B
8. Andy LaRoche® 3B
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS

Texas Rangers
1. Ian Kinsler® 2B
2. Elvis Andrus® SS
3. Michael Young® 1B
4. Adrian Beltre® 3B
5. Nelson Cruz® LF
6. Mike Napoli® DH
7. David Murphy (L) CF
8. Yorvit Torrealba® C
9. Mitch Moreland (L) RF

The Oakland Athletics took a big step in gaining some momentum in the AL West as they defeated the Texas Rangers 3-1 behind another strong showing from Trevor Cahill. While Cahill struggled a little in giving up four walks and seven hits, he did an excellent job of working out of several jams, including bases loaded with two outs in the first inning.

In spite of the 11 walks and hits, Cahill worked fairly quickly as he lasted seven innings on 100 pitches. He held the Rangers scoreless through seven innings and improved to 4-0 thanks to Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes shutting the door in the eighth and ninth innings.

The A’s offense did not provide monstrous support, but as is the case in most A’s wins this season, they provided just enough. Kurt Suzuki grabbed a two out RBI single to plate Daric Barton. Conor Jackson and Josh Willingham each doubled to lead off the fifth inning with a second run. Finally, Daric Barton scored after Kurt Suzuki hit into an expected double-play that was botched on the throw to first.

The A’s and Rangers are back out Saturday afternoon at 1:05pm as Brett Anderson faces Colby Lewis.

The Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers have released their lineups for the first of their four game series and the A’s find themselves without Coco Crisp once again. He tweaked a quad muscle against the Angels on Tuesday and has been out since, listed as day-to-day. Oakland has moved David DeJesus to center and Conor Jackson moves over to right field in the meantime.

Jackson has split his time between left field, right field, and first base this season. While he isn’t putting up huge offensive numbers, he’s had some big hits thus far. I wasn’t sure about including him on the 25-man roster coming out of spring training, but he has quickly turned into an important utility outfielder/first baseman for the A’s.

Tonight’s matchup features a battle of aces as Trevor Cahill and C.J. Wilson will be looking to throw up some goose eggs on the scoreboard. It is a long four game series, but a win and solid offensive performance on the first night could provide the A’s with some much needed momentum in this big series.

Oakland Athletics
1. Mark Ellis® 2B
2. Daric Barton (L) 1B
3. Conor Jackson® RF
4. Josh Willingham® LF
5. Kurt Suzuki® DH
6. David DeJesus (L) CF
7. Kevin Kouzmanoff® 3B
8. Landon Powell (S) C
9. Cliff Pennington (S) SS

Texas Rangers
1. Ian Kinsler® 2B
2. Elvis Andrus® SS
3. Michael Young® DH
4. Adrian Beltre® 3B
5. Nelson Cruz® RF
6. David Murphy (L) LF
7. Yorvit Torrealba® C
8. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B
9. Julio Borbon (L) CF

The Oakland Athletics head into a pretty big four game series with the Texas Rangers today with a chance to gain some ground in the fairly close AL West standings. The A’s sit three games back of the Rangers, which means in reality they could actually climb ahead of the Rangers with a sweep of this series. A four game sweep is probably unlikely, but if the A’s can grab three of four, that would get them to within one game of the Rangers by the end of the weekend.

While it might be too early for some to discuss the AL West standings (and especially the wild card) the Memorial Day weekend, coming up in a month, is often considered a serious marker heading into the summer. I’ve read that if a team is 20 games over .500 at Memorial Day (or thereafter), they’re a virtual certainty to make the playoffs. Right now the 16-7 Rockies have the best record in baseball and have a shot at hitting that magic number by Memorial Day weekend.

The AL West is not quite at that level with the Rangers sitting at five games over .500 heading into this weekend. If the A’s can get just start to gain a little ground above .500 they might be able to establish their ground in the division.