This is a game I’ve written about several times over the now 15th season I’ve written about Rangers game for this blog. 1-0 losses can only be described one way, really. You had outstanding pitching, but your offense was dead. There really is no other story behind a 1-0 loss, is there?
Dan Straily just shut us down. Went seven innings, allowed just two hits, no walks, and struck out five. He left the game with just 88 pitches, too, so I’m not sure why (I was busy working, and wasn’t paying attention to the game) he came out when he did. But the guys that followed him were just as good. Two innings of one hit shutout ball by two relievers. Overall, the A’s pitching line was 9IP, 3H, 0R, 0B, 8K. It’s hard to beat that, when all you get from your team were three singles (Gentry, Pierzynski, & Profar).
The flip side of that is a hard loss by your pitcher. Yu Darvish started, and was not as good, although – for his “eh” line, he did get a technical quality start, but his numbers would indicate he should have given up more than he did. 6IP, 5H, 3BB, 1R. That one run came on a solo home run to Cespedes in the third inning, and would be the only run of the game. Shame, as he battled well, according to what I see in the recap and box scores, but we were just shut down.
The Rangers bullpen did not allow any runs. Robbie Ross bent a little, but didn’t break – he was followed by Scheppers, who kept the A’s off the board. The last reliever was Neal Cotts, who was making his Rangers season debut, after having his contract purchased earlier in the day. He went a single inning, allowed no hits, and no walks with one strikeout – a perfect inning. It wasn’t a mop up inning, either – we were down 1-0, and he needed to keep the score where it was, and he did well in his debut. Good job there by Cotts.
Never like 1-0 losses, you always feel you could have done SOMETHING, eh? We now have to win on Wednesday, otherwise we’ll get swept at home, something that hasn’t happened in quite awhile.