Braden tosses four-hitter as A's down Rangers

Baseball Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Braden threw his second shutout of the season to lift the Oakland Athletics to a 5-0 win over the Texas Rangers in the second of a three-game set.

Braden (9-9) gave up just four hits and struck out one in throwing his fifth complete game of the season for the Athletics, who had dropped four of six coming in. Kurt Suzuki went 4-for-5 with two RBI, while Daric Barton scored four times and drove in two in the win.

Rich Harden (5-5) was tagged for four runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings for the Rangers, who had won five of six prior to the loss. Jorge Cantu's double was the lone extra-base hit for the Rangers.

Oakland took a 1-0 lead in the first as Kevin Kouzmanoff's two-out single scored Barton. On the play, Suzuki was nailed trying to take third to end the inning.

In the third, the A's made it a 3-0 game as Coco Crisp singled with one out and Barton followed with a blast over the right field wall.

Oakland tacked on another run in the fifth as Barton hit a one-out double and Suzuki followed with an RBI single for a 4-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Braden kept the Texas offense in check as Cantu, in the second inning, was the only Rangers baserunner to reach second base until the ninth.

Oakland made it a 5-0 game in the seventh when Barton worked a one-out walk and came home on a double from Suzuki.

Braden continued to dominate the Rangers in the seventh as he set them down in order for the fifth time and worked around a two-out single from Alex Cora in the eighth.

Elvis Andrus singled to start off the ninth, but Braden set down the next three batters to seal the win.

Game Notes

Braden went 3-2 over five starts in August and improved to 2-4 lifetime against Texas...Each team has won seven times in the season series...Harden fell to 1-2 against his former team...Attendance was 47,411 and the game time was 2:28.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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