Rangers Drop Low-Scoring Affair to Athletics

April 11, 2024

Athletics 1, Rangers 0

ARLINGTON, Tex. (Apr 11) — The Texas Rangers were hitless for most of the afternoon as they fell to the Oakland Athletics, 1–0, on Thursday. A solo home run by outfielder Seth Brown was enough to hand the Rangers their first series loss of the season. From here, the Rangers embark on a long 10-game road trip. The first stop on that journey will be a three-game set against the Houston Astros.

That series will get underway on Friday evening at Minute Maid Park with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm Central. It will be a duel of righties as Dane Dunning (1–1, 4.15 ERA) will make his third start of the season for the Rangers, and J.P. France (0–1, 4.76 ERA) will get the ball for the Astros. The Athletics, meanwhile, will head back to the Oakland Coliseum to start a three-game series against the Washington Nationals. Right-hander Jake Irvin (0–1, 5.73 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Nationals. Paul Blackburn (1–0, 0.00 ERA) will start for the Athletics.

One-Run Game

Things stayed silent until the top of the second. The Athletics jumped out to a 1–0 lead at that point. Seth Brown hit his first home run of the year, a solo shot to right.

What Went Right for the Athletics

The solo blast by Brown was all the offense that the Athletics needed to keep the Rangers at bay. Their pitching staff also held the Rangers hitless until the late innings. A single to left by Adolis Garcia off JP Sears broke up the no-no in the bottom of the seventh. The Rangers and Athletics combined for five hits, tied for the second-lowest combined single-game hit total in Globe Life Field history. The first lowest was a four-hit showing from the Rangers and New York Yankees on May 19, 2021 (Corey Kluber no-hitter).

After Sears left the game, Austin Adams, Lucas Erceg, and Mason Miller pitched a combined 2 2/3 innings of hitless, scoreless relief.

What Went Wrong for the Athletics

There wasn’t much that went wrong for the visiting nine on Thursday. It’s a safe bet that in Sears’ mind, the only thing that he would have changed was that he would have finished the game.

Pitching Notes

For the Rangers, Gray made his third start of the season. All have come at home. Gray shouldered the loss despite allowing one run in five innings. He booked season highs in pitches (91) and strikeouts (9), marking the most strikeouts by a Rangers starter since Gray also struck out nine on August 28, 2023, against the New York Mets. He nearly doubled his combined strikeout total from his previous two outings this season (5 K). Gray fired 61 of his 91 offerings for strikes (67.0%), after throwing 83 of 151 pitches for strikes (54.9%) in his first two starts. Thursday marked the sixth game of his career in which he took a loss despite allowing one earned run or fewer over 5+ innings. It is tied for the most such outings in the majors since 2019.

For the Athletics, Sears held the Rangers hitless (0-for-18, 3 BB, 5 K) over his first 6 1/3 innings before surrendering the one-out single to García in the bottom of the seventh to finish his outing. Thursday’s start was the second-longest scoreless appearance of his career. His longest outing was 7 1/3 innings on July 4, 2023, against the Detroit Tigers. It was the longest outing with one or zero hits allowed by any Athletics hurler since Mason Miller on May 2, 2023, against the Seattle Mariners (7 IP, 0 H). Sears got the win, bringing his record to 1–1 with an ERA of 5.15. Mason Miller earned his second save of the year after tossing a perfect ninth.

Something New Every Day

After García’s single in the seventh, Austin Adams hit Jonah Heim with a pitch. Pinch-hitter Jared Walsh then hit a blooper between the mound and second base. Second baseman Zack Gelof slid while attempting to make the catch but dropped the ball. Adams picked up the ball and threw to third base to force García for the second out. Third baseman Abraham Toro then threw to second, forcing Heim and completing a bizarre inning-ending double play. It was the sort of play where the infield fly rule did not apply since the ball could not have been caught by an infielder with ordinary effort.

Postgame Comments

After the game, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy gave his take on the strange play in the late innings. “You’ve just got to be ready in case they don’t call (the infield fly rule),” Bochy said. “And if it hits the ground, you’ve got to take off. We’ll talk to the guys more about that and go over what needs to be done in that scenario.”