Lewis’ gem lifts Rangers to 4-0 victory over A’s

ARLINGTON, Texas Colby Lewis picked himself up off the deck, again, on Friday night.

Lewis, who has overcome major injuries throughout his career, rallied from a three-start slump to take a no-hit bid into the eighth inning. He settled for a complete-game 4-0 victory against Oakland to start a crucial 10-game stay at Globe Life Park.

Lewis allowed two hits overall: a no-doubts double by Danny Valencia to start the eighth inning and a lead-off infield single by Josh Phegley in the ninth. Lewis finished with his first shutout since May 16, 2011, a year before he underwent hip-resurfacing surgery that endangered his career.

Valencia’s hit came on a rare ineffective slider. Lewis was stoic as he watched the hard-hit ball carry to left, moving toward third in case he was needed to back up a throw.

Nothing to Lewis’ season suggested a no-hit bid was at hand.

His longest hitless stretch to start a game this season was 31/3 innings, against the Los Angeles Angels on July 24. Lewis usually removed the possibility early. He has allowed a hit to the first batter faced 10 times this season.

Lewis’ previous three starts were difficult. He had an 8.26 ERA for 152/3 innings with an opponents batting average of .343 for 67 at-bats.

In a loss at the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, Lewis gave up 10 hits and seven runs in five innings.

Manager Jeff Banister ignored the recent performance and continued to back Lewis.

“The reality is he had one start that he wasn’t able to pitch through some scenarios that he was capable of pitching through in every other start,” Banister said.

The only tip-off that Lewis could be on the verge of something big was the opponent. He can throw out his glove and beat Oakland. In six starts against the Athletics since returning from hip-resurfacing surgery, Lewis is 4-0 with a 2.35 ERA.

The difference from his previous three starts was Lewis had command of his two main pitches: fastball and slider. When a “pitch-ability” starter such as Lewis has that, he can be extremely effective.

Lewis was able to move the ball around the strike zone at will from the start. He needed only 17 pitches to get through the first two innings. Lewis finished with no walks and three balls in a count only three times.

The Rangers helped Lewis with several hit-saving plays. Defensive positioning came into play, too.

In the sixth, the Rangers had second baseman Rougned Odor in shallow right field for Max Muncy, of Keller. That enabled Odor to make a running, over-the-shoulder catch on Muncy’s liner. Had Odor been in his normal spot, the ball would have landed for a hit.

In the fourth, outfielders Shin-Soo Choo and Delino DeShields had hit-saving plays on consecutive hitters.

Choo started by going into the right-field gap, ignoring the too-close presence of a sliding DeShields and getting to Mark Canha’s warning track drive. DeShields, back in center after a three game absence because of a sprained left knee, followed with a tumbling catch on Josh Reddick’s sinking liner.

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