Oakland @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( May 11, 2010 ) Oakland 7, Texas 6
Derek Holland makes his 2010 debut tonight for the Texas Rangers, taking the hill against the Oakland Athletics in the second game of a three-game series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The Rangers and A’s go into this game tied atop the American League West standings after Oakland held on to win an extra-inning affair on Tuesday night.
Holland went to spring training as a leading candidate for the Rangers’ front five, but he sprained his right knee on the first day of workouts and was sidelined for two weeks. That injury eventually sent Holland to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he got off to a great start, going 4-1 with a 0.93 ERA in his first six starts.
Holland, 23, moves into the Texas rotation in place of Matt Harrison, who has tendinitis in his left biceps tendon. And the Rangers have made it clear that Holland can lock up a rotation spot if he pitches well.
In other words, the job is now Holland’s to lose. When healthy, Harrison might be a bullpen candidate.
Holland made his big league debut last season and showed flashes of greatness over his 33 games, including 21 starts. He struggled down the stretch, though, finishing the year 8-13 with a 6.12 ERA.
Against the A’s last year, Holland went 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three games, including one start.
Offensively, the Rangers have played well. On Tuesday, Josh Hamilton belted a two-run home run, Elvis Andrus went 2-for-4 and David Murphy had a solo shot to extend his hitting streak to five games.
The Rangers will need that type of output against A’s left-hander Gio Gonzalez, who is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three lifetime games, including one start, against the Rangers.
In his last start, Gonzalez went seven innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits in a losing effort against Tampa Bay.
The A’s bullpen is a bigger issue after it blew three save opportunities on Tuesday. Andrew Bailey took a blown save - his first since June 16, 2009 - after giving up a two-out RBI single to Andrus in the ninth inning. That ended a career-high 21 2/3-inning scoreless streak dating to Sept. 6, 2009.
Tyson Ross ended up winning his first big league game despite also taking a blown save.
Offensively, it was a good night for Oakland.
Daric Barton hit a go-ahead solo home run in the 11th and, then in the 13th, drove in the game-winning run.
And, finally, Eric Chavez went deep for the first time since June 17, 2008, blasting a two-run home run in the fifth inning off Texas starter Colby Lewis. That was a span of 150 at-bats between home runs, the second-longest drought of Chavez’s career.