SOM Diary: Season opener Oakland A's at Texas Rangers 2:1

The A's take their opening series against the Rangers   with two wins clearly decided by struggling Texas pitching and a loss against Texas stalwart Yu Darvish.

Game 1: Starters bad, bullpens good: A's 7, Rangers 3

OAK 005 110 000 7 10 0 8
TEX 200 100 000 3 6 0 6

Both sides in the OAK-TEX season opener display the same pattern: starters struggling to get through the first innings, giving up hits and runs aplenty, and then solid bullpens taking over and essentially freezing the game in the state after four innings.

The Rangers come out of spring training blazing away on all barrels: Holland has back to back 1-2-3 innings backed by a strong infield, while the Rangers' bats greet AJ Griffin with two solo homers in the first by leadoff Ian Kinsler and short stop Adrian Beltre.

However, in the top of the third the bottom of the A's order hit back with a single from Seth Smith and a two run homer from Derek Norris to tie the game, and the A's continue to hit nearly uninterrupted - Donaldson makes it 5-2 with a three run long ball. Bottom of the third the Rangers continue to hit, loading the bases with one out, but Griffin pitches out of trouble with a forced play 1-2 and a flyout to center. After that the offensive fireworks peter out with just a few single runs being added by either team. The bullpens take over from Holland after 4+ innings and from AJ Griffin after six, and bring the game home without any big shifts in balance anymore.

Game 2: A's 1, Rangers 3

Three solo homers by Beltre, Cruz and Moreland were all it took for the Rangers to get by the A's in the second game of the series.
Rangers starter Yu Darvish got into trouble early and often, loading the bases with no outs in the second and with two outs in the first, but was saved by timely double plays from his defense each time. He allowed one run on six hits, seven strikeouts, five walks and hit one batter in 6.1 innings. Joe Nathan got the save with a clean 1-2-3 ninth.
Jarrod Parker went seven innings for the A's, only allowed six hits and not much else but took the loss as the Rangers made the most of their hits and prevented the A's from scoring after the second inning.

Game 3: Texas pitchers are losing it: A's 9, Rangers 1

The series finale was decided by struggling Rangers pitchers and solid Oakland hitting (9 hits including three doubles, and a homerun from Brandon Moss).
Top of the fourth, Alexi Ogando is struggling with his control: with one out and rightfielder Josh Reddick on first base, catcher Norris is hit by a pitch and has to be replaced by John Jaso; Reddick advances on a flyout to left from Brandon Moss and scores on a wild pitch that also advances Jaso to second. Eric Sogard scores Jaso on an RBI single, steals second, advances to 3rd on another wild pitch and then scores on a balk from Ogando, who then gets out of the inning by inducing a lucky flyout from Coco Crisp.
In the eighth, Ross Wolf comes in for Ogando but fails to record a single out while giving up four runs on three hits and a rare two base fielding error by Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus.