Rangers’ old guys provide a lift in 3-1 win
Adrian Beltre and Colby Lewis are the two oldest players on the Texas Rangers’ roster, which just happens to be the youngest roster this season in the major leagues.
Beltre turned 36 on Tuesday, and Lewis is four months younger.
Don’t believe it? Just watch them walk.
But in a game Tuesday night in which younger players made big pitches and important plays late, Beltre and Lewis set a tone in the first inning by doing what they do best.
Beltre made two critical defensive plays, and Lewis responded by allowing one run in six innings without his best fastball command to help give Jeff Banister the first win of his managerial career, 3-1 over the Oakland A’s.
“I was picking the old guys up,” Beltre said.
Prince Fielder drove in two runs, and he, Leonys Martin and Elvis Andrus had two hits apiece a night after the Rangers were one-hit on Opening Day. Andrus got into the glove show with a nifty double play with the bases loaded to give Keone Kela a scoreless major-league debut in the seventh.
Banister’s reward for breaking his maiden was a lineup card and a beer shower from his players. But the biggest reward of the night was Lewis repaying Beltre’s defensive brilliance in the first inning by allowing only three hits on a night when he struggled with his fastball command.
The first two A’s had reached in the first, and Lewis fell behind Monday’s big hitter, Ben Zobrist, 3-0. After a called strike, Zobrist lofted a popup down the left-field line just in foul territory.
It looked as if the ball would fall between Beltre, Andrus and left fielder Ryan Rua, but Beltre made an over-the-shoulder catch while running away from the infield for an important first out.
“What a fantastic play,” Banister said. “It changed the inning.”
Beltre said that he thought he had a chance when he saw it go up, but “I’ve got to get to the get-go right away so I can get there,” he said. “I just tried to get there early enough. I don’t know if it came back, but somehow I got there.”
Lewis said that the play got him locked in, but the A’s were still threatening with cleanup man Billy Butler. Butler, though, is a double-play machine, and Lewis got him to bounce a slider to third.
Beltre made the play, spun and threw to second for one out, and second baseman Rougned Odor completed the double play and kept the A’s off the scoreboard.
But the popup was still on Lewis’ mind afterward.
“It’s his birthday, and he came up with a huge play,” Lewis said. “I tip my cap, but he’s made those type of plays in the past. It’s kind of ridiculous to watch him play third base sometimes and the stuff he comes up with.”
The first two A’s, though, reached against Kela in the seventh, and they had the bases loaded with one out. Shortstop Marcus Semien had a full count, and Kela threw a changeup that Semien rolled to Andrus for a double play.
Shawn Tolleson and Neftali Feliz finished up with a scoreless inning apiece, but Kela left an impression with his composure and his guts to throw a full-count changeup with the bases loaded.
“This is the big leagues,” Kela said. “You’ve got to have a set, right?”
A set of veterans came through biggest of all for the Rangers.
Jeff Wilson, 817-390-7760
Pitching: Colby Lewis pitched out of trouble in the first inning and took a shutout into the sixth. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out four on 93 pitches. … Keone Kela’s big-league debut was eventful but scoreless after getting a double play with the bases loaded to end the seventh. … Neftali Feliz‘s fastball sat mostly at 93 mph in a scoreless ninth.
Hitting: Prince Fielder drove in the Rangers’ first two runs of the season, on a third-inning blooper and a fifth-inning line drive. … A second run scored on the second Fielder hit on a two-base error on right fielder Craig Gentry. … Fielder, Leonys Martin and Elvis Andrus had two hits apiece as the first three in the Rangers’ order went 6 for 12.
Notable: Adrian Beltre bailed out Lewis in the first with two great play at third base, a running over-the-shoulder catch on a Ben Zobrist popup for the first out and stabbing a Billy Butler grounder and starting a double play to end the inning. ... Elvis Andrus made an error for the second straight game, on a ninth-inning grounder that should have ended the game.
This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Rangers’ old guys provide a lift in 3-1 win."