Sonny Gray takes no-hitter into eighth; A’s blank Texas
OAKLAND, Calif.—Sonny Gray carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning before Ryan Rua broke it up with a leadoff single, and the Oakland Athletics snapped their record 10-game losing on opening day by beating the Texas Rangers 8-0 Monday night.
Trying to join Bob Feller (1940) as the only pitchers to throw a no-hitter on opening day, Gray dazzled through seven innings and allowed only two baserunners before Rua’s sharp grounder to right field. Fans in the sellout crowd of 36,067 chanted “Sonny! Sonny!” and offered a roaring ovation.
Ben Zobrist backed Gray’s gem with a two-run homer in the first and also had a double in his Oakland debut. Stephen Vogt added a three-run shot in the seventh.
New designated hitter Billy Butler hit an RBI double as the A’s won their opener for the first time since beating Texas on April 5, 2004.
Oakland’s 10-game losing streak on Opening Day was the longest in major league history.
Gray (1-0) walked one and struck out three in his 98-pitch performance. Evan Scribner worked a perfect ninth to finish the one-hitter.
Gray plunked No. 9 hitter Rougned Odor with a pitch in the third for the Rangers’ first baserunner. Zobrist dropped Leonys Martin’s fly to left for a two-base error in the sixth.
Texas’ Prince Fielder went 0 for 4 with a strikeout after missing most of 2014 following a cervical fusion of two disks in his neck last May, ending his then major league-best streak of 547 consecutive games played since 2010. He hadn’t missed consecutive games since August 2007.