A’s beat Rangers 5-2

A nice little win to end the week

The Athletics picked up the win Sunday afternoon, beating the Texas Rangers by a final of 5-2.

On the mound to start today’s game was JP Sears. The left-hander started off strong today, striking out the first three batters of the game. Even better, he rung them up looking, all three of them. His stuff must have looked really deceptive in the early going. His fastball was sitting 93-95 mph.

Then it was the bats’ turn. Not to be showed up by Sears, they got right to work. Outfielder JJ Bleday led off with a single and scored the next batter off a Zack Gelof RBI double. After a fielder’s choice, Seth Brown stepped to the plate and launched his first home run of the spring, a 2-run shot over the right field fence.

Given a bit of breathing room, Sears kept up his hot start by striking out four more over the next two innings. He ran into a smidge of trouble in the third when he gave up a single and an error put another runner on, but he escaped with his final strikeout of the day.

The A’s added on another run in the bottom of the third courtesy of a Miguel Andujar RBI single. He did get thrown out at second trying to stretch it but we’ll take the extra insurance run.

With Sears’ day done, it was offseason acquisition Ross Stripling’s turn. Taking the hill in his first game of the spring, Stripling pitched well in three innings of work. The only run he allowed was unearned thanks to a throwing error from shortstop Max Muncy. Other than that blemish Stripling had a very solid beginning to his spring training. He’s still on track to claim a spot in the Opening Day rotation, likely in the fourth slot.

Oakland got that run right back in the bottom half of the frame thanks to another Gelof double and another Brownie RBI single. Keeping Brown throughout the winter and not trading him is looking like the right decision so far.

After Stripling it was relievers the rest of the way. Left-hander Scott Alexander allowed an double and RBI single in his inning of work, and then fellow lefty Hogan Harris finished off the final two innings, striking out the side in the ninth to finish off the win.

All in all another nice win for the Athletics. The club is now a game over .500 when games don’t count. Gelof and Brown look ready for the season to start, as does Sears. The defense could have been better as the A’s committed four errors in today’s win. Need to clean that up tomorrow.

Speaking of, the A’s head over to the Cincinnati Reds’ complex for an afternoon matchup against them. Righty Luis Medina is set to take the hill and should be expected to go three innings.