Harden fans nine in strong start, Rangers hold off A's

Baseball Betting Lines

05/04/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rich Harden tossed seven innings of two-hit ball to help Texas take down Oakland, 4-2, in the opener of a three-game set.

Harden (2-1) struck out nine and didn't walk a batter for the Rangers, who have won six of their last seven. Michael Young went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored while Justin Smoak added a solo home run in the win.

Dallas Braden (3-2) went seven innings and was charged with three runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts for the Athletics, who have dropped six of their last seven. Kevin Kouzmanoff clubbed a two-run homer in the ninth to keep Oakland from getting shut out.

Texas got on the board in the fourth as Vladimir Guerrero singled, Ian Kinsler followed with a double and Ryan Garko grounded out to plate Guerrero for a 1-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Rangers added two runs. With two outs, Craig Gentry singled and scored when Young followed with a double. Josh Hamilton then singled to score Young.

Harden, meanwhile, was cruising through his start, as the only baserunner he allowed through the first five innings was Eric Chavez, who reached in the second on Harden's fielding error. Harden didn't give up a hit until Rajai Davis' double with one out in the sixth. He gave up a two-out single to Chavez in the seventh, but stranded Chavez at first.

With Darren O'Day on the mound in the eighth, pinch-hitter Gabe Gross and Cliff Pennington hit singles for Oakland, but Frank Francisco came on and struck out Daric Barton to end the inning.

Smoak crushed a pitch over the left field wall to start the ninth for a 4-0 lead.

Francisco stayed on the mound in the ninth and promptly blew the shutout. Ryan Sweeney led off with a single and Kouzmanoff followed with a shot over the left field wall. Francisco then walked Chavez on four pitches and Neftali Feliz took the mound.

Feliz had no problems, as he set down the next three batters, striking out the final two for his sixth save of the season.

Game Notes

Last season, Oakland won 11 of the 19 games with Texas...Vin Mazzaro takes the mound for Oakland on Tuesday while Scott Feldman will toe the rubber for Texas...Before the game, Oakland reinstated reliever Michael Wuertz from the 15-day DL and optioned lefty Brad Kilby to Triple-A Sacramento.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.