Blackley outpitches Darvish as A’s begin ascent to AL West title
As June turned to July in 2012, the A’s were 3742 and had dropped the first three games of a fourgame series in Texas, falling 13 games behind the AL Westleading Rangers. Oakland hadn’t had a winning season since 2006. So when the A’s topped Texas 31 on July 1, no one would have predicted that would ignite the A’s comeback for a most improbable division title.
Except ... that victory ignited the A’s comeback for a most improbable division title.
The Rangers’ Yu Darvish struck out 11 in seven innings, but the A’s scratched out single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Meanwhile, Travis Blackley, the Australian lefthander whom the A’s claimed off waivers from the Giants in May, held Texas to a run in seven innings to pick up the victory.
“For him to be pitching as well as he is at the bigleague level is really a testament to a guy who has persevered,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said in an Associated Press story. “It’s good to see a guy who’s gone through a lot and worked so hard ... having success.”
Blackley debuted with the Mariners in 2004. He didn’t earn another bigleague win until joining the A’s in ’12. In parts of four bigleague seasons, he was 99 with a 5.23 ERA.
That victory in Texas began a fivegame winning streak for Oakland. The A’s would win 18 of 21 to move into contention. They ended the season on a sixgame winning streak, the final three over Texas, to take the division by a game. And it started on that innocuous Sunday night in Texas.