In the bottom of the 8th, Texas down 3 to 1 with two men on, Ian Kinsler hit a shot to straight away center and looked like he had put Texas ahead. Frank Francisco was warming in the bullpen. The 13,000 fans in attendance were on their feet. Then Oakland centerfielder Ryan Sweeney took off and, timing his jump perfectly, extended his glove over the centerfield wall and hauled the sure homerun back, ending both the inning and any momentum Texas had built.
"It was pretty much timing," Sweeney said. "I just jumped, got lucky and caught it. ... He hit it dead center. I think if he would have pulled it a little bit, it might have gone."
Oakland got a great outing from Dallas Braden as he went five innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out six.
Texas starter Vicente Padilla also pitched well, going six innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out four.
Michael Young went 2 for 5 but was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. Two hitters later, Hank Blalock hit a solo homerun. This is yet another in a long line of fundamental baserunning errors that have been costing Texas runs early in the season.
Playoff teams don't give runs away. Playoff teams make other teams pay for doing the very things Texas is doing by constantly shooting themselves in the foot.
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