Rangers Not a Hit Against Moehler

The first opening day start of Brian Moehler’s career wasn’t going very well. He had to cut his pregame warmup short because he didn’t feel comfortable on the bullpen mound. And he wasn’t too comfortable with his stomach, either.

“For the first time in my career, I felt like I was going to throw up,” Moehler said.

Moehler calmed down in time to flirt with history, coming within eight outs of joining Bob Feller as the only pitchers to throw no-hitters on opening day as Detroit beat Texas, 11-5, Monday.

Moehler (1-0) dominated the AL’s best hitting team of 1998 until one out in the seventh inning when Juan Gonzalez singled to center. Ranger newcomer Rafael Palmeiro ruined the possible shutout by following with an RBI double.

Whether Moehler could pull off the feat became the game’s focus early as Juan Encarnacion homered on the game’s first pitch, Bobby Higginson and Damion Easley hit three-run homers in a seven-run third inning as Detroit was up 11-0 by the sixth.

For the Rangers, bad pitching--especially by ace Rick Helling--and bad defense joined the early offensive flameout as co-conspirators in the lopsided loss.

It was no way to treat a crowd of 46,650, the largest for a home opener in team history.

“You can’t judge us on one game,” said Palmeiro, who spent the last five seasons in Baltimore after five in Texas. “We’re going to be back. Everyone likes to get a good start, but just because we lost doesn’t mean it’s over.”

Helling, trying to prove his 20-7 record last year was no fluke, allowed four of the first five Tigers to reach base--and it got worse from there. He was shelled for seven runs, five earned in only three innings.

Helling was pulled after hitting Detroit’s eighth- and ninth-place hitters, Brad Ausmus and Brian Hunter, when he had two strikes on them. He put his arms over his face in disgust after hitting Hunter.

Replacement Esteban Loiaza got the inning’s first out when Encarnacion flied out to right, but a run scored on the play because of bad decisions by Texas fielders.

Lee Stevens, playing first base while Palmeiro heals from two knee operations, started it by cutting off Gonzalez’s throw and throwing to third. Todd Zeile then opted to start a rundown to get Ausmus coming from second, allowing Deivi Cruz to score. The rundown failed when Royce Clayton’s throw to Zeile bounced off Ausmus’ head for the second of three Texas errors.

Two batters later, Easley homered.

Mike Morgan, competing with Loiaza for the fifth starter’s job, was Texas’ next pitcher and he made pro sports history with the appearance. The Rangers are his 11th team, breaking the major league record held by Bob L. Miller, Tommy Davis and Ken Brett; the NFL and NHL records are 10 and the NBA mark is nine.

Masao Kida relieved Moehler to open the eighth and he, too, made a bit of history. Kida, who played 10 years in Japan, is the eighth Japanese player to play in the majors and the first born in Tokyo.