The Texas Rangers had more hits than the Oakland Athletics on Sunday night, but couldn't come up with the timely ones to complete a four-game sweep.
A's starter Travis Blackley worked out of jams, and had an effective pickoff move to keep the Rangers in check. Oakland left Texas with a 3-1 victory, and handed Yu Darvish his first loss at Rangers Ballpark.
"We couldn't really get anything going," second baseman Ian Kinsler said. "[Blackley] threw the ball well."
Blackley converted two successful pickoff moves, too. He caught Elvis Andrus in the first inning, and then got Yorvit Torrealba in the third.
Pretty deceptive move, right?
"Obviously," Torrealba said. "Honestly it looked like he balked. I watched the replay and it was just a good move."
Added Andrus: "He really got me right there. I saw his body lean to home plate, and that's when I was shuffling and stuff and he did really good."
Here are a few other postgame notes:
* Yu Darvish matched his career-high with 11 strikeouts. He allowed three runs on five hits with three walks over seven innings. It was the fifth start with 10 or more strikeouts for Darvish, the most in the American League and tied with the Mets' R.A. Dickey for most in the majors. "He threw a lot of strikes, that's the main thing with him," catcher Yorvit Torrealba said. "With the stuff that he has, he's going to strike out people and he's going to get a lot of outs in this league." While it was a solid start by Darvish, he saw his seven-game home winning streak come to an end.
* Nelson Cruz turned 32 on Sunday, and went 2 for 4. He is 6 for 15 (.400) in his career on his birthday.
* The Rangers announced a crowd of 45,741, their 25th sellout of the season.
-- Drew Davison
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