A's 5, Rangers 0
Dallas Braden pitched one-hit ball over eight innings and Oakland roughed up Texas ace Cliff Lee as the host Athletics blanked the Rangers 5-0 on Thursday night.
At one point, Braden (10-13) retired 19 consecutive hitters. The left-hander struck out seven and walked two.
It was Braden’s second strong outing against Texas in less than a month. He tossed a four-hit shutout against the Rangers on August 28.
Brad Ziegler struck out two in the ninth while finishing the shutout.
Lee (12-9) gave up four runs and six hits before being lifted after five innings.
Jack Cust had a run-scoring single in the fourth for the first Oakland run and Chris Carter hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
The following inning, Steve Tolleson doubled in a run and scored later in the frame when Daric Barton hit into a double play.
Oakland added a sixth-inning run on Matt Carson’s booming double to center field.
Nelson Cruz’s first-inning single was Texas’ only hit.