For seven innings on Wednesday night, Yovani Gallardo basically cruised — with the exception of a rough first inning before he settled in and found his rhythm. And when he found that rhythm, boy, he found it.
Gallardo fanned a season-high 10 batters — his most since he had 11 in a game last September with the Brewers — and got through the seven innings on just 110 pitches, which is a fairly low number considering all the punchouts.
Then, he took a seat and watched his defense and bullpen, but mostly his defense, fail him and cost him his sixth win of the season.
The A's scored two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth to win in walkoff fashion, and did so thanks to two Rangers errors — both by Joey Gallo — and several more mental blunders that didn't show up in the linescore.
Gallardo has been incredibly solid for the Rangers this year. Nothing fantastic — though Wednesday could've qualified — but incredibly solid, and he deserved a better fate on Wednesday than the one he got.
