Oakland @ Texas preview
Choctaw Stadium
Last Meeting ( May 12, 2010 ) Oakland 1, Texas 10
C.J. Wilson went into spring training as a longshot to make the Texas Rangers rotation. After all, he spent the previous four years grinding in the bullpen.
But through Wilson’s first six starts this season he has become one of the top pitchers in the American League. In fact, he goes into Thursday’s game against the Oakland Athletics with the second-best ERA in the league.
The Athletics, who are one-game behind the Rangers in the AL West, counter with right-hander Ben Sheets.
Wilson is coming off his best start of the season on Friday when he tossed a complete game, allowing only one run on five hits in the Rangers’ 4-1 victory over the Royals. He finished with four strikeouts and two walks.
That also marked Wilson’s sixth straight quality start to begin the season. Kevin Brown (1993) and Charlie Hough (1988) are the only other pitchers in franchise history to accomplish that. No pitcher has opened the season with seven consecutive quality starts.
Since taking the loss in a rain-shortened, six-inning game against the Yankees on April 16, Wilson is 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA in his last four starts.
Offensively, the Rangers found their longball stroke Wednesday night, blasting a season-high five home runs in a 10-1 victory over the A’s.
Josh Hamilton and Vladimir Guerrero had back-to-back bombs in the fifth inning followed by solo shots from Michael Young and Max Ramirez in the sixth inning. Justin Smoak capped the night with a two-run home run in the seventh inning.
Elvis Andrus extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a double in the first inning, the longest active streak in the majors.
The Athletics, meanwhile, would like to get their offense going again. Oakland, which snapped a three-game winning streak with Wednesday’s loss, didn’t manage any runs off Rangers starter Derek Holland, who was making his first start of the season in the big leagues.
The lone bright spot for Oakland came in the eighth inning, when Eric Patterson had a pinch-hit home run.
Oakland will look to Sheets today to string together his second consecutive solid start after signing a one-year, $10 million deal in the off-season. Sheets went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and three walks, in leading the A’s to a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday.
In seven lifetime starts against the Rangers, Sheets is 2-3 with a 6.38 ERA.