After winning six straight series, the Rangers fell in a series against the Oakland A's as they were shut out 7-0 for Thursday's series finale.
The Rangers offense just couldn't get going against Oakland lefty Scott Kazmir, who permitted only one hit, a single to Elvis Andrus, in eight shutout innings pitched. The Rangers last shut out also came against Kazmir, so it appears he has their number.
"Kazmir seems to pitch very well against us" said manager Jeff Banister. "His secondary stuff, changeup, breaking ball, it's giving us fits. We're having a tough time making adjustments against those pitches against Kazmir. Tough day offensively for us."
The A's got one run off the Rangers in the bottom of the first inning, and that one run alone would be enough for a Texas loss. Bill Burns led off and was walked on four pitches, stole second, and reached third on an infield single from Josh Reddick. Ben Zobrist singled to score Burns for the games first run.
Three more Oakland runs came in the bottom of the eighth off the Rangers' bullpen. Sam Freeman issued a four-pitch walk to Stephen Vogt and was replaced by Jon Edwards. Mark Canha took Edwards deep for two, the first runs allowed by Edwards all year. After that, Edwards walked Josh Phegley on four pitches, allowed a double to Sam Fuld, and a sacrifice fly to Billy Burns to score Phegley.
After Edwards walked another batter, he was replaced by Ross Detwiler. Reddick came up for the A's, and hit a three-run homer to bring the final to 7-0.
It was another good start for Rangers' rookie Chi Chi Gonzalez who allowed only one run in seven completely innings pitched. Though the 14.2 scoreless inning streak to start his career was snapped, Gonzalez did all he could to keep the Rangers in the game in case the offense decided to wake up. In his first three big league starts, Gonzalez has held a 0.42 ERA.
"He settled in and pitched the ball very well, similar to what he's done the last two outings and it was nice to see after the first" said Banister. "You can't take anything away from him really, he was in control out there."
The Rangers had gone 56 straight games without being shut out, the longest streak in the majors, until Thursday. The only two previous shutouts for Texas came at O.Co against the A's in the first series of the season.
Wandy Rodriguez takes the mound for the Rangers on Friday as they return home to Globe Life Park to take on the Minnesota Twins. Game time is stated for 7:05 p.m. CT.
