Oakland A’s starter JP Sears pitched no hit baseball into the seventh inning against the World Champion Texas Rangers and eventually the A’s won the ball game at Globe Life Field in Arlington on Thu Apr 11, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

There was little offense in Thursday’s game between the Oakland A’s (5-8) and the Texas Rangers (8-5). It was a pitchers dual and showcased some great pitching by the A’s. JP Sears went 6 innings and Lucas Erceg and closer Mason Miller were perfect in the eighth and ninth innings with Miller getting the save. The lone run was a home run from Seth Brown.

Game recap: This game turned out to be a defensive game without a whole lot of offense. Through eight innings the A’s only had three hits and the Rangers only managed one. It was a pitchers duel from the start.

Jon Gray got the start for the Rangers. Oakland starter, JP Sears went six innings allowing no hits, no runs with 5 strikeouts. The Rangers, Jon Gray went five innings allowing 3 hits, one run and 9 strikeouts. Gray threw that one pitch in the second inning that Oakland’s Brown crushed for a home run and a 1-0 lead that would persist into the ninth inning.

The A’s put two runners, Tyler Nevin and Brown, on first and second in the top of the ninth inning looking for an insurance run. Oakland was unable to bring runners home and it was up to closer Miller to get the job done. He would face the top of the Texas lineup so he had his work cut out for him.

Miller dismissed Marcus Semien, Cory Seager and Wyatt Langford in that order, three up, three down and the A’s had won their second series of the season 1-0. It all came to down to some excellent pitching by Oakland. Lucas Erceg had a three up, three down eighth inning. The past few A’s wins showcased some solid pitching.

Brown had two hits for Oakland, Abraham Toro and Kyle McCann had the other two Oakland hits. It was a quiet day for both offenses.

Game notes: Thursday afternoon the A’s took two out of three games against the Rangers in game-three of their series. The A’s won the first game of the series 4-3 and the Rangers came back in game two winning 6-2, the A’s shocked the baseball world taking game three from the Rangers on Thursday afternoon with surberb pitching by JP Sears for a 1-0 shutout.

Friday night the Oakland A’s will take on the Washington Nationals at the Coliseum in a three game series. First pitch for this game is scheduled for 6:40 PM. Oakland is favored in this game. Paul Blackburn will take the mound for Oakland with a 1-0 win/loss record. The Nationals will start Jake Irvin who has a 0-1 win/loss record and a 5.73 ERA.