Early in the game the A’s were up with a 3-0 lead, and just stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Shane McClanahan was the night’s starter, and had a solid first inning, going 1-2-3 through the A’s lineup, which is already a major improvement over some other games in this series. In the bottom of the first Brandon Lowe got a leadoff single, but the Rays were unable to bring him home.
McClanahan started to struggle a bit in the second, giving a leadoff walk to Murphy. While he struck out the next two batters and seemed to be finding his footing, he did give up a single to Neuse.