Rangers recap: Colby Lewis flirts with perfection against Athletics

Texas Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis had been anything but perfect in his past three outings. On Friday night at Globe Life Park, he flirted with the ultimate in pitching perfection.

Lewis retired the first 21 batters before a leadoff double by Danny Valencia in the eighth inning broke up his bid for a perfect game, something a Rangers’ pitcher has done since Kenny Rogers in July 1994.

The Rangers scored three in the first and added a run in the seventh to win 4-0. Lewis did the rest, whipping through the Oakland lineup with quick innings, including a seven-pitch first and 10-pitch second. He threw only 69 pitches through seven innings. He improved to 15-8, a career-high in wins for the 36 year old, 10-year major league veteran.

Pitching: Lewis held the Oakland to one hit in his first complete game since August 27, 2014. He had gone eight innings three times this season, the last on August 9 when he allowed three earned runs on five hits.

Hitting: Texas scored three in the first inning after Shin-Soo Choo and Adrian Beltre reached on singles and Mitch Moreland and Rougned Odor followed with doubles. Choo and Beltre scored on Moreland’s double to the right-field corner and Moreland scored on Odor’s gapper to left-center field. The Rangers added a run in the seventh when Chris Gimenez led off with a double, moved to third on Delino DeShields’ sacrifice bunt and scored on Choo’s single up the middle.

Notable: Last complete-game shutout with two hits or less was Doug Davis in 2002 against Oakland ... it’s Lewis’ third-career shutout ... Lewis is the first right-hander to throw a two-hitter or better since Nolan Ryan in May 1991.

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Colby Lewis flirts with perfection against Athletics."