Athletics:  12  Rangers: 1

No offense to the A’s, but they were not themselves tonight.  The A’s got to Scott Feldman early tonight, so early that he was knocked out of the game after he’d only thrown 1.2 innings.  The second inning began with a lead off walk from Yoenis Cespedes, a single from Seth Smith and a 3-run home run from Brandon Inge.  Feldman would then go on to face 4 more batters and allow 3 more runs before retiring the first batter of the inning.  The A’s would score 8 runs in that one inning, which was more than enough to win the game.  The A’s would eventually go on to score 4 more runs (which also included a 2-run home run by Kila Ka’aihue), but the 3-run home run by Brandon Inge was all they really needed to win the game.

Surprisingly, the offense was not the story of the night. Jarrod Parker pitched a phenomenal game tonight, taking a no-hitter into the 8th and pitching 8 shut out innings against the offensively skilled, Texas Rangers.  The only hit Parker allowed was to Michael Young, who lead off the 8th with a single.  He then was immediately able to get Nelson Cruz to pop up and David Murphy to ground out into a double play.

Lines of the Day:

• Jarrod Parker:  8 IP, 1 H, 3 BB, 6 SO.  Parker’s pitch count was up early, he threw 111 pitches (69 for strikes), but had his best outing this season by far.  He has now allowed 2 runs or less in 7 of his 8 starts this season.
• Seth Smith:  5 AB, 4 H, 2 R, 1 RBI.  Great night for Seth Smith, who was a home run short of the cycle.
• Honorable Mention to the A’s offense, who had 15 hits total tonight with every player in the starting line up recording a hit.