ZITO 1-HITS RANGERS FOR 21ST VICTORY
Tejada's 4 Hits Include 33rd HR, 52nd 2B
ARLINGTON, Tex., Sept. 12 (AP) - Barry Zito continued his pursuit of teammate
Tim Hudson in the American League Cy Young Award race, stifling the Texas
Rangers on one hit in a 7-1 Oakland Athletics victory at the Ballpark in
Arlington. Zito failed in his attempt to record his third shutout of the
season only because of a pair of Oakland errors in the bottom of the ninth
inning which led to an unearned run. Nevertheless, the left-hander tossed
his sixth complete game of the season, one more than Hudson. The victory
improved Zito's record to an overpowering 21-4, just a tad shy of Hudson's 23-3
mark. The nine innings without an unearned run lowered Zito's ERA to 2.11,
just a hair higher than Hudson's 2.01 mark. Both pitchers are expected to
make three more starts before the end of the regular season.
The complete game one-hitter is the tenth such accomplishment in the major
leagues this season and the first by a member of the A's. Surprisingly for
a team with such a potent offense, it's the fourth time that the Rangers have
been one-hit this year; no other major league club has managed fewer than two
hits more than twice. Texas was one-hit three times in the first five
weeks of the season; Zito's masterpiece comes more than four months after the
last time the Rangers were one-hit, on May 4 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland by
C.C. Sabathia.
Zito's teammates made it easy for him by jumping all over Rangers starter Ryan
Drese (2-2) early on. With two outs in the opening frame, Eric Chavez
belted his 28th home run of the season. In the third inning, Chavez's
one-out single spurred a three-run uprising. Miguel Tejada's 33rd home run
of the year immediately followed the Chavez safety, putting the A's on top
3-0. Scott Hatteberg then drew a walk and was doubled to third by Ramon
Hernandez. Hatteberg scored on Jermaine Dye's ground out to put Oakland
ahead 4-0.
When Eric Byrnes led off the fourth with the third home run of the game for the
A's, Drese was removed in favor of R.A. Dickey but Oakland scored again that
inning when Mark Ellis tripled and came home on a Chavez sacrifice fly.
The only Texas hit of the game came in the second when Shane Spencer dropped a
single into center field. The Rangers didn't advance a runner past first
base until the ninth when Gerald Laird reached on an error by Adam Melhuse, who
was making his season's debut at first base. Zito then walked Ryan
Christenson. Jermaine Clark flied to center with Laird advancing to third
and, after Hank Blalock fouled out, Alex Rodriguez's grounder to first was
booted again by Melhuse, allowing Texas to break the shutout when Laird
scored. Unfazed, Zito retired Rafael Palmeiro on an infield pop fly to end
the game and complete the one-hitter.
Tejada, who leads the AL in hits with 203, banged out four safeties, the fourth
time this season he's accumulated at least four hits in a single game and his
58th multi-hit game of the year.
The A's are considered likely to sweep the MVP and Cy Young Awards in the
American League. Tejada is considered the frontrunner for the former while
Hudson and Zito are regarded as the top two contenders for the latter.
9/12/2003, Oak03-Tex03, The Ballpark in Arlington 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Athletics 1 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 7 11 2 9 2 2003 Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 0 Athletics AB R H BI AVG Rangers AB R H BI AVG Ellis,M 2b 4 1 1 0 .226 Young,M 2b 3 0 0 0 .268 Durazo dh 5 0 0 0 .266 Clark,J 2b 1 0 0 0 .000 Chavez,Er 3b 4 2 2 2 .264 Blalock 3b 4 0 0 0 .320 Tejada ss 5 1 4 2 .341 Rodriguez,A ss 3 0 0 0 .319 Crosby,Bo ss 0 0 0 0 .250 Palmeiro,R dh 4 0 0 0 .246 Hatteberg 1b 2 1 0 0 .246 Spencer lf 2 0 1 0 .267 Melhuse ph 1 0 0 0 .260 Teixeira 1b 3 0 0 0 .268 Hernandez,Ra c 5 0 1 0 .255 Nix rf 3 0 0 0 .317 Dye rf 4 0 1 1 .228 Jones,Jas rf 0 0 0 0 .191 Singleton cf 0 0 0 0 .247 Laird c 3 1 0 0 .381 Long lf 3 1 0 0 .259 Christenson cf 2 0 0 0 .177 Byrnes cf 4 1 2 2 .273 28 1 1 0 McMillon rf 0 0 0 0 .302 37 7 11 7 Athletics INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Zito W 21-4 9.0 1 1 0 3 6 126 76 2.11 9.0 1 1 0 3 6 126 76 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Drese L 2-2 3.0 6 5 5 3 3 72 37 6.94 Dickey 1.2 3 2 2 2 1 48 27 6.62 Shouse 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 15 11 3.88 Ramirez,E 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 13 10 2.84 Fultz 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 9 5 3.13 Cordero,F 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 21 14 2.27 9.0 11 7 7 5 10 178 104 Oak: Crosby,Bo inserted at ss in the 8th Melhuse batted for Hatteberg in the 9th Melhuse moved to 1b in the 9th Singleton inserted at cf in the 9th McMillon inserted at rf in the 9th Tex: Clark,J inserted at 2b in the 9th Jones,Jas inserted at rf in the 9th E-Melhuse 2. 2B-Tejada(52), Hernandez,Ra(19), Byrnes(28). 3B-Ellis,M(3). HR-Chavez,Er(28), Tejada(33), Byrnes(7). RBI-Chavez,Er 2(100), Tejada 2(125), Dye(24), Byrnes 2(43). SB-Dye(1). K-Ellis,M, Durazo 3, Hatteberg, Hernandez,Ra 2, Dye, Long, Melhuse, Young,M, Blalock, Rodriguez,A 2, Spencer, Nix. BB-Ellis,M, Hatteberg 2, Dye, Long, Rodriguez,A, Spencer, Christenson. SF-Chavez,Er. WP-Drese. GWRBI: Chavez,Er Temperature: 84, Sky: clear, Wind: in from left at 15 MPH. Attendance: 19,867 Game Time: 3:06