RANGERS 8, ATHLETICS 5
at Surprise, Ariz.
Thursday, March 19

Rangers at the plate: Marlon Byrd finished off a six-run third inning with a two-run home run, his first of the spring, to straightaway center. David Murphy hit a two-run double to left-center in the same inning. Omar Vizquel, leading off and playing second base, had three hits and a terrific play defensively on Travis Buck's grounder into the right-side hole in the second inning.

Athletics at the plate: Ryan Sweeney, who was hitting .455 coming into the game, had a two-run triple in the Athletics' four-run first inning. He ended up 1-for-3 and is now batting .432 for the spring. Kurt Suzuki raised his batting average to .313 with a two-hit afternoon. Rangers on the mound: Kris Benson said he was suffering from dead arm and had no velocity on his fastball. He gave up four runs in the first inning, then responded with three scoreless frames. In a Minor League game, Vicente Padilla allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings against a White Sox farm team on the back fields.

Athletics on the mound: Oakland starter Edgar Gonzalez gave up six runs in the third inning after walking the leadoff hitter and muffing a potential double-play grounder back to the mound. Reliever Josh Outman threw four scoreless innings.

Cactus League records: Rangers 12-9; Athletics 12-8-1.

Up next: Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler will be in the lineup when the Rangers play the Rockies at 3:05 p.m. CT on Friday in Tucson, Ariz. This is the second trip for the Rangers to Tucson, and manager Ron Washington requires every player to make at least one of the two trips. Matt Harrison is scheduled to pitch for the Rangers.