Final
Loe, Rangers snap A's streak
Apr 22, 2007 - 6:14 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers reached for a new Loe to avoid hitting another low.Kameron Loe, making his first start of the season, threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings and the Rangers defeated the Oakland Athletics, 7-0, to snap a three-game losing streak.
Matt Kata belted a three-run homer in a four-run eighth inning as Texas snapped Oakland's winning streak at four games.
Hardly a likely candidate to get the beleaguered Rangers' pitching staff back on track, Loe only allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five. The sinkerballer entered having allowed opponents to bat .333 against him in five previous relief appearances and entered with a 5.40 ERA.
"I was focused on getting strike one and putting the hitters in a defensive count instead of a hitter's count," said Loe, who retired 14 of 16 A's between the first and fifth innings. "I was getting ground balls and was able to throw my off-speed pitch for strikes."
Bouncing back from a 16-4 beating at the hands of the A's on Friday night that drove their staff ERA up to 5.62, the second-highest in the majors, Texas' bullpen also turned in a stellar effort.
A trio of relievers did not allow a hit until Eric Gagne finished up in the ninth inning.
"That pumped me up," Loe said. (They) shut the door."
"Their guy threw the ball very well tonight," A's designated hitter Todd Walker said of Loe. "He hit the corner with a lot of movement on his ball. Sometimes you run into a buzzsaw. He was throwing extremely well tonight."
Nelson Cruz went 3-for-3 and Mark Teixeira was 2-for-4, including a one-out single in the fourth inning off A's starter Joe Kennedy (0-2) that gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Texas doubled the advantage in the seventh, loading the bases on singles by Cruz and Kata and a walk to Gerald Laird before Jerry Hairston Jr. delivered a sacrifice fly.
The Rangers broke it open in the eighth against Jay Marshall, stringing together five hits for the four runs. Cruz had an RBI single before Kata launched his second homer of the season to left field.
Oakland had a chance, chasing Loe in the sixth and eventually loading the bases against Texas reliever C.J. Wilson, who came back to strike out Eric Chavez and Milton Bradley to end the threat.
"We really just had that one good opportunity, and we didn't get the big hit we needed," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "You never expect to get shut out."
Kennedy was solid for the A's, allowing one run and five hits while striking out five and walking three.
"I pounded the zone a lot with fastballs," Kennedy said. "With so many days off, I didn't have command of my breaking balls and offspeed pitches. You have to tip your cap to Loe. He had a good sinker working. He was able to keep our hitters off balance."
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
OAKLAND 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
TEXAS 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 x 7 10 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: OAK - JOE KENNEDY, JAY WITASICK (6TH), ALAN EMBREE (7TH), KIKO
CALERO (7TH), JAY MARSHALL (8TH) AND ADAM MELHUSE
TEX - KAMERON LOE, C.J. WILSON (6TH), JOAQUIN BENOI
Apr 21 11:11 PM - AL
AT TEXAS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY IAN KINSLER SCORED GERALD LAIRD.
SITUATION: 5 RUNS IN, I KINSLER ON FIRST, J HAIRSTON JR ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0
TEXAS 7 BOTTOM, 8TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: M YOUNG (.174, 0-FOR-4)
Athletics vs. RangersApr 21 11:03 PM - AL
AT TEXAS - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY MATT KATA (2) TO CENTER WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 8TH OFF JAY MARSHALL SCORED HANK BLALOCK AND NELSON CRUZ.
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0, TEXAS 6
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: G LAIRD (.114, 0-FOR-2, BB)
Athletics vs. RangersApr 21 10:59 PM - AL
AT TEXAS - PITCHING CHANGE
TEX: AKINORI OTSUKA (0-0, 0.00) STARTING THE 8TH
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0, TEXAS 2
DUE UP FOR OAKLAND: A MELHUSE (.200, 0-FOR-1)
Athletics vs. RangersApr 21 10:39 PM - AL
AT TEXAS - MID INNING UPDATE
PLAY: A Embree relieved J Witasick.
SITUATION: 0 RUNS IN, NONE ON, 0 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0
TEXAS 1 BOTTOM, 7TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: H Blalock (.228, 0-FOR-2)
Apr 21 10:13 PM - AL
AT TEXAS - PITCHING CHANGE
OAK: ALAN EMBREE (0-0, 1.13) STARTING THE 7TH
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0, TEXAS 1
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: H BLALOCK (.228, 0-FOR-2)
Apr 21 10:13 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
OAKLAND 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
TEXAS 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 (BOT 7)
CURRENT PITCHERS: OAK - JAY WITASICK
TEX - JOAQUIN BENOIT
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: H BLALOCK (.228, 0-FOR-2)
N CRUZ (.231, 1-FOR-1, BB)
M KATA (.200, 0-FOR-1, SAC)
Apr 21 10:13 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
OAKLAND 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
TEXAS 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 (TOP 5)
CURRENT PITCHERS: OAK - JOE KENNEDY
TEX - KAMERON LOE
DUE UP FOR OAKLAND: T BUCK (.275, 0-FOR-1)
B CROSBY (.229, 0-FOR-1)
T WALKER (.250, 0-FOR-1)
Apr 21 9:09 PM - AL
AT TEXAS - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARK TEIXEIRA SCORED JERRY HAIRSTON JR.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M TEIXEIRA ON FIRST, I KINSLER ON SECOND, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0
TEXAS 1 BOTTOM, 4TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: S SOSA (.204, 0-FOR-0, BB)
Athletics vs. RangersApr 21 9:03 PM - AL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
OAKLAND 0 0 0 1 0
TEXAS 0 0 0 0 (BOT 2)
CURRENT PITCHERS: OAK - JOE KENNEDY
TEX - KAMERON LOE
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: M TEIXEIRA (.214, 0 HR, 2 RBI)
S SOSA (.204, 4 HR, 11 RBI)
H BLALOCK (.236, 0 HR, 2 RBI)
Apr 21 8:28 PM
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