Rangers 9, A’s 1

C.J. Wilson earned his 11th win of the season as the Texas Rangers defeated the Oakland Athletics 9-1 on Friday night in Oakland.

Wilson went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 7.  On Wednesday, Wilson had criticized Oakland’s pitchers mound and it’s fans.  Friday night, the fans let him hear it, as he was soundly booed by the 20,288 in attendence.   Wilson was unfazed, and seemed to get energy from it, “The funny thing is the fans were very colorful in their comments they made,” said Wilson. “It fired me up. It felt like a playoff game, having the whole stadium against you except the 15 people who were there with me.”

Wilson had little to worry about after the top of the 2nd inning, as Texas scored 6 runs in the frame.  The Rangers added 3 more in the 4th.  Every run was scored the hard way, as there were no home runs in the game.  Texas scattered 11 hits throughout the roster.  Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a triple in the 2nd and Yorvit Torrealba has a 10-game hitting streak.

The Rangers remain 2 games ahead of the Angels in the AL West.  Game 2 of the Oakland series is tonight with Colby Lewis on the mound against Trevor Cahill.