Chris Young points to his family after his game winning 3-run homer in the top of the 9th. (Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

The story of this game was very much the same as the previous games in Arlington, many opportunities to score  runs, many opportunities missed.  The Athletics had Erik Bedard on the ropes in the top of the 1st inning, loading the bases with nobody out, but they would only be able to deliver two runs.  Bedard would allow just those two runs in his 5 innings of work.

Meanwhile, Tommy Milone would cruise through the first four innings of the game, allowing a hit here and there, but suffering no damage.  The 5th inning would be an entirely different story.  After getting the first two outs without incident, the Astros got on the board when Matt Dominguez homered to left to make it a 2-1 game.  Ronny Cedeno hit a well placed pop up that neither Eric Sogard or Chris Young were able to get to, and the inning began to snowball from there.  An infield single and an RBI single by Jose Altuve would tie the game at 2.  The big blow came off the bat J.D. Martinez in the form of a 3-run home run to put some distance between the Astros and the A’s at 5-2.  Other than that inning Milone was very good tonight, and a couple of well placed balls go the other way and this inning never happens.  Milone would last 7 innings, and his line of 8 hits, 5 ER, 0 walks, and 6 strikeouts doesn’t do justice to how well he really did pitch overall.  He would get a no decision.

The A’s would inch closer when Seth Smith deposited a home run into the left field bleachers to the opposite field to make it a 5-3 game.  Pat Neshek would give the A’s a scoreless 8th inning and get the win tonight.  The real activity would come in the 9th inning.

John Jaso pinch hit for Adam Rosales to lead off the 9th inning, and he would draw a walk against Veras, Coco Crisp followed suit with a walk of his own, bringing up Chris Young with 2 runners on.  Young’s home run was a surprise within the game, but it really should not have been considering Young’s past at Minute Maid Park.  Young is hitting .418 for his career with 7 home runs and 27 RBI in 19 games there.  Each time he plays there are somewhere around 50 friends and family members in the stands to cheer him on, and they could be heard.  Without a doubt he loves playing for them.

With the pinch hitting of Jaso for Rosales in the top of the inning, the A’s were forced to do some rather unorthodox shuffling defensively in the bottom half.  Jaso had to play first base, Brandon Moss moved to third, and Josh Donaldson shifted over to shortstop.  For Moss and Donaldson, it was their first career appearances at those positions.  The A’s are pushing the limits of the term versatility to say the least.

This marks the fourth straight series in which the A’s have won the first game, and they have won the previous two after taking game 1.  The A’s will send out A.J. Griffin (4-3, 3.59 ERA) against Lucas Harrell (3-5, 4.63 ERA).  Griffin has been strong this year overall, and this will be his first ever start in Houston.

Okay, no take all my statements from the previous paragraph and the exact opposite was what I expected to see.

May 15, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Dan Straily (67) pitches the ball against the Texas Rangers during the third inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve been hard on Straily for much of the time he’s been with Oakland, and he’s earned that criticism with his inability to command the strike zone, and to keep opposing hitters in the ballpark.  But last year when the possible acquisition came up of the likes of Chase Headley of the San Diego Padres, Straily’s name came up, and the Athletics balked at such an asking price.  For much of the season this year as Straily got knocked around, questions began to arise as to exactly why the A’s weren’t willing to deal the young right hander.  Tonight, he showed us all why the A’s wanted to keep him in the fold.

There wasn’t much in the way of activity, as you could expect in a 1-0 game (just the 13th such game in Arlington’s history).  Straily was the story tonight.  He allowed just 2 hits in 7 scoreless innings, he struck out 5, and walked none.  He was relieved after just 88 pitches, he certainly could have gone further, but with a lockdown bullpen there was no need for Bob Melvin to risk it.  Besides, Straily would be guaranteed to go into his next start versus the San Francisco Giants with a boatload of confidence.  This was a glimpse of the Dan Straily we’ve all been waiting to see, I won’t proclaim that he has arrived just yet, but this was encouraging in a big way.

Yoenis Cespedes provided the game’s lone offense with a solo home run to dead center field in the top of the 3rd inning versus Yu Darvish.  While his numbers may not bear it out, he is making an impact with the long ball.  This was his team leading 9th home run of the season.  The A’s had their chances to give themselves some breathing room, but they failed in those chances, leaving 11 men on base.  They’ve left 26 runners on in the last two games, but they’ve come out on top in both games.

The A’s are 25-22, just 4.5 games behind the division leading Rangers, and have a chance to sweep them in Arlington, which undoubtedly is a rare feat.  They’ll send Jarrod Parker (2-5, 6.04 ERA) to the mound against a former Athletic Ross Wolf who will be making his season debut for the Rangers in place of Nick Tepesch who was scratched due to a blister on his middle finger.  Wolf appeared in 11 games for the A’s in 2010 and posted a 4.26 ERA in 12.2 innings of work.  This is his first major league action since then.  The A’s can give Wolf a rude welcome back to the Show tomorrow as they attempt to complete this sweep of their division rivals.

May 20, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Pat Neshek (left) celebrates the victory with catcher Derek Norris (36) after the game against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

To say Tuesday night’s duel between Dan Straily and Yu Darvish is a mismatch would be an understatement of incredible proportions.  Straily has struggled in Oakland for the most part, save for a couple instances of effectiveness.  Darvish on the other hand is emerging as an ace, and has the ability to strike hitters out with extremely high efficiency.  This doesn’t bode well for the Athletics chances Tuesday night.  Now, I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but that’s the clear reality of the situation.

With the A’s victory in the opener, they immediately eliminate the threat of being swept in Arlington.  If they lost this game, and lose the second game in all likelihood, the series finale on Wednesday would become that much more difficult to take when the Rangers smell a sweep.  This team does possess the best record in the American League at 29-16, so clearly they’re winning a lot of series.

The matchup on Wednesday could possibly favor the Athletics though, as Jarrod Parker and Nick Tepesch square off.  Of course the A’s have never seen Tepesch, and he’s never seen the A’s, so which team that benefits remains to be seen.  With tonight’s win though and the possibly favorable matchup Wednesday the A’s stand a realistic chance of taking this series in Texas.

So while tomorrow may not be destined to go in the A’s favor, if Dan Straily can keep the Rangers offense reasonably at bey, they would stand a chance against their solid but not infallible bullpen if they can get Darvish out of the game.  The “work the pitch count” strategy doesn’t always work, but many teams have a soft underbelly in their bullpen that can be exploited if they are forced into duty.

If the A’s wish to seriously get back in the race for the AL West in the short term, winning this series versus the Rangers will go a long way towards accomplishing that.  After leaving Arlington the A’s will get another chance to play the Houston Astros, against whom they are 6-0 this season.  While I don’t necessarily expect them to continue that absolute dominance by sweeping them again, this is a series they absolutely should be winning with relative ease.  They fattened up their record in the early going against them, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t aim to do that once again this coming weekend.  These are games they have to win, because if they don’t then the ones like Tuesday’s matchup against Yu Darvish become even more tough to deal with.