Texas Splits First Two In Oakland

Cliff Lee pitched yet another gem Friday night, but Saturday afternoon saw Rich Harden (pictured above, right) revert to old form in a 6-2 loss. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

The first two games of the weekend series between the Texas Rangers (64-46) and the Oakland Athletics (55-54) seemed to be a tale of two pitchers for the Rangers. While Cliff Lee dominated, going eight innings and allowing only one run, Rich Harden displayed the same traits that got him put on the D.L. nearly two months ago.

Lee struck out eight batters Friday night, walking none, and retired 16 of 17 A's batters at one point, achieving his 10th win of the season in the Rangers 5-1 win. It was the 10th straight game Lee has gone at least eight innings.

"I'm not going to sit here and pat myself on the back for anything," Lee said. "I just want to give my team a chance to win every time I take the mound."

Taylor Teagarden (with a man on) and Josh Hamilton (a solo-shot) both homered for Texas, after Elvis Andrus started things off in the third -driving in a run on a two-out double. The win was the third straight for the Rangers and the team had scored 22 runs in that span. The win also put the Rangers a season-best 19 games over .500.

Saturday's game didn't go nearly as well for Texas on the mound or at the plate. Harden walked three of the first five batters he faced, culminating with walking in the first run of the game. Oakland tacked on another run with a sac fly from second baseman Mark Ellis, making it 2-0 after the first.

Coco Crisp, who was walked-in by Harden in the first, hit a solo homer the very next inning and the Rangers' starter walked two more batters and hit another before being relieved in the third inning. Harden's final line read that many other starts he's made for Texas this season: 2 1-3 innings, three runs on two hits and five walks.

The guy he replaced as the Rangers' fifth starter, Scott Feldman, didn't fare much better. Scooter also allowed three earned on two hits, but at least the lefty spread it out over 4 1-3 innings.

For the second straight game, Teagarden led the charge on offense. This time, however, he didn't have any help. The Rangers' catcher homered for the second-straight game, this time a solo shot, and David Murphy knocked in the other on a single. One run was scored in both the eighth and ninth inning - after A's starter Gio Gonzalez was gone for the night. Gonzalez went seven innings and allowed no runs on only four hits.

The rubber-match is tomorrow afternoon with a 3:05 p.m. start time. Colby Lewis (9-8, 3.45 ERA) will get the start for Texas and Trevor Cahilll (11-4, 2.72) will take the mound for Oakland.

News and Notes:

• The game was changed from a night-game (9:05 p.m. start) to a day game. The A's are now 26-11 in day-games - best in the Majors.
• Despite his recent offensive surge, Teagarden is still hitting only .122 for the season. However, that is up from the .059 batting average he had to start the month of August.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)