Rich Harden (above) pitched his best game of the season and four Rangers knocked in a run each as Texas won it's fourth straight. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
The Texas Rangers (14-12) are taking the whipping stick to their American League West rivals, at least for the first four games of this six-game west-coast road trip. It's latest victim, the Oakland Athletics (13-14), were done-in by a great outing from Rich Harden - a former A's player.
"He threw a lot better than he has all year, that's for sure," A's manager Bob Geren said. "His velocity was up significantly from his previous starts and his command, he'd had trouble."
He certainly didn't have trouble with his command on this night. Harden pitched seven innings, gave up no runs on only two hits, struck out nine batters and, most importantly, issued zero walks for the first time in a Rangers' uniform.
"It's nice," Harden, now 2-1 on the season, said. "I haven't been myself lately. This is what I want to continue here on out, this feeling."
Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Ryan Garko, and Justin Smoak all drove in runs for the Rangers, and it appeared Texas had the game in hand going into the ninth inning with a 4-0 lead. But, if you've been watching the Rangers this season, you know a late-inning lead is always in jeopardy with this bunch.
Right on cue, Frank Francisco came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth and immediately gave up a single, a two-run homer, and a walk to the first three batters he faced - giving Oakland life with no outs and a man on, down only 4-2. Luckily Francisco was pulled and Nefatili Feliz came in and got the job done. Feliz got three straight outs, striking out two of the three batters he faced to end the inning.
Texas is now 6-1 against the A.L. West.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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