Rangers 3, A's 1
- Well, that was an improvement over the first game.
- Though I'm sure that early on, with the A's putting the first two runners of the game on, and then Colby Lewis getting behind on Ben Zobrist, there was a lot of "here we go again" angst, that the Rangers were setting themselves to get into an early hole. But nope...Lewis retired Zobrist, got Billy Butler to bounce into a double play, and wasn't in trouble again until a Sam Fuld triple in the 6th inning led to the A's first run of the game.
- The big question with Colby Lewis coming into the season was whether we'd get first-half 2014, zero-command Colby Lewis, or if we'd get the good, second-half Colby. Lewis's velocity last night was in line with what it has been the past few years, and his command was solid. Its just one game, but Lewis looked like the guy who finished the 2014 season strong.
- Keone Kela made his major league debut, struggled commanding his fastball, loaded the bases with one out, but got out of the inning on a 6-3 GIDP hit into by Marcus Simien. It wasn't his sharpest outing, but he got his first game out of the way, and is still sporting a 0.00 ERA.
- Shawn Tolleson and Neftali Feliz handled the 8th and 9th, respectively, with the only baserunner coming with two outs in the 9th when Elvis Andrus misplayed an Ike Davis grounder. A bit worrisome is that Feliz only averaged 92.8 mph on his fastball, though.
- The Rangers finally got on the scoreboard thanks to Prince Fielder, who was responsible for all three Rangers runs. A two out single to center in the 3rd inning brought Rougned Odor home to give Texas the lead, and a one out single to right in the fifth, combined with a Craig Gentry fielding error, brought Leonys Martin and Elvis Andrus home with a pair of insurance runs.
- Games where the Rangers score runs are more fun than games where they don't score runs.
- Texas is now at .500 on the year. Woo-hoo!