Rangers offense quiet in 8-2 loss to Oakland A’s
One of the better hitting teams in the league, the Texas Rangers, was kept relatively quiet Sunday by Gio Gonzalez and the bullpen of the Oakland Athletics Sunday.
Gonzalez only allowed the Rangers five hits, one walk, and a pair of runs over six innings of work while striking out four. Craig Breslow and Michael Wuertz combined to only give up one more hit over the final three innings to defeat the Rangers 8-2.
Josh Hamilton provided the most significant offense for the Rangers on the day. His RBI single in the third inning tied the game at 1-1. In the bottom of the sixth he hit home run No. 31 on the year to close the gap to 7-2.
Hamilton bolstered his case for the AL MVP by increasing his RBI total to 95 (fifth in the AL), home run total to 31 (fourth in the AL), and improved his AL-best batting average to .359. The home run is Hamilton’s fifth in the last 10 games.
While not impossible, hitting for the Triple Crown is unlikely with Hamilton 11 home runs behind Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays and 12 behind Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers for the RBI lead.
Colby Lewis failed for the eighth time to get win No. 10 on the season. He started out looking good retiring six of the first seven batters he faced before giving up his first hit to start the third inning, a double to Rajai Davis.
After Mark Ellis hit a home run off Lewis in the fourth the lead was only 2-1. Two innings and five runs later and the A’s had a comfortable 7-1 lead.
“You have a job to do, period. Apparently, I didn’t do it today,” Lewis said. “I didn’t make pitches when I needed to, and of course didn’t make a play when I needed to. Definitely, I take that burden.”
Oakland holds the season series between the two teams after wining two of three during the weekend series, 8-7. The two teams meet once more during the regular season, a four game series in late September.
The loss dropped the Rangers to 73-57 on the season and decreased the deficit to seven and a half games for the second place Athletics in the AL West division race.
On Monday Texas starts an 11-day, 10 game road trip beginning with a three game series in Kansas City against the Royals. C.J. Wilson is scheduled to take the mound on Monday against Kyle Davies for the Royals.
Texas plays 20 of its next 25 on the road; they are also the poorest road team of all the division leaders.
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