Derek Holland has not looked his sharpest yet again, but has been bailed out a bit by his terrific defense and the not-so-terrific Oakland offense.
Holland managed to shut the A's out through the first four innings, before a Kurt Suzuki double was followed by a Collin Cowgill home run. Yoenis Cespedes also homered on a pitch that no one should even make contact with in the sixth to make it a two-run game.
With his velocity a bit lower than you expect to see from him, Holland managed quite a few grounders, but also plenty of good contact without many missed bats. Just two strikeouts against just two walks and two home runs won't usually result in good results even without strong contact, though, so the Rangers are a little bit lucky to only see three runs against them on the board right now.
For the Rangers' part, they have seven hits, with three runs in the third, and another in each of the fourth and fifth. Texas had a 5-0 lead, but now looks at a close game after the home runs off Holland, who is out of the game.
Oakland reliever Sean Doolittle made his Major League debut in relief by striking out the first three Rangers he faced.
Source: FanGraphs