After an exciting rivalry series with the rival Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers continued their homestand with a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics at Globe Life Field. Here’s a recap of the three games between the Rangers and the Athletics.
Game One – Athletics Win – 4-3
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up three hits, one earned run, two walks, and eight strikeouts. Meanwhile, A’s pitcher Alex Wood pitched four innings and gave up five hits, two earned runs, three walks, and two strikeouts.
The Rangers took the first lead of the game. Josh Smith singled on a sharp line drive to Lawrence Butler. Marcus Semien scored for an early 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. The A’s responded with a game-tying home run. Shea Langeliers sent the ball over the left-center field fence to tie the game 1-1 in the top of the second inning. Jonah Heim answered by sending one over the fence to put the Rangers up 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning.
Shea Langeliers’ second home run of the night tied the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh inning. Evan Carter answered once again with his first home run of the season for a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Shea Langeliers sent his third bomb of the night over the fence, scoring Darell Hernaiz to make it a 4-3 game in the top of the ninth inning. The Rangers were unable to answer, resulting in a final score of 4-3 in favor of the Athletics. It was certainly a night for home runs. All runs on both sides of the board resulted from home runs, with the Rangers recording two (Heim and Carter) and the Athletics recording three (Langeliers).
Game Two – Rangers Win – 6-2
Rangers pitcher Cody Bradford pitched 6 2/3 innings and gave up five hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts. Meanwhile, A’s pitcher Ross Stripling pitched six innings and gave up 11 hits, six earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. Unlike in the series opener, Oakland took the first lead of the game. Abraham Toro singled. JD Davis reached on a fielding error. Tyler Nevin followed with another single singled on a ground ball to Adolis Garcia to score Toro scored for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. J.D. Davis went to second base, but Bradford escaped the inning without further damage.
Evan Carter smacked a two-out double into right field, followed by a walk to Adolis Garcia. Josh Smith singled into right field, sending Carter across the plate to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. With runners on the corners, a wild pitch by Stripling allowed Smith to steal second. Jonah Heim singled on a line drive to Tyler Nevin, sending Garcia home to put the Rangers up 3-1 in the bottom of the first inning.
The bottom of the 4th started with a walk for Jared Walsh and a single by Travis Jankowski. Marcus Semien doubled on a line drive to Tyler Nevin, sending Jared Walsh home to extend the Rangers’ lead to 4-1 at the bottom of the 4th. With Marcus Semien on 2nd and Travis Jankowski on 3rd, Stripling intentionally walked Corey Seager to load the bases. Evan Carter grounded into a force out. Hernaiz to Langeliers got Jankowski at home, but left the bases loaded. An Adolis Garcia single sent Semien and Seager home to widen their lead 6-1. Despite allowing Garcia to steal 2nd, Stripling managed to escape the inning. Zack Gelof homered in the top of the 8th, but would be the last member of the Athletics to cross the plate. Jacob Latz closed out the remainder of the game for the Rangers, leaving the score at 6-2 in favor of the Rangers.
Game Three – Athletics Win – 1-0
Rangers pitcher Jon Gray pitched five innings and gave up three hits, one earned run, one walk, and struck out nine. Meanwhile, A’s pitcher JP Sears pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up one hit, three walks, and recording five strikeouts. Despite plenty of base runners on both sides, only one player crossed the plate. Seth Brown homered in the top of the second inning. The most exciting bit of the game was Adolis Garcia breaking up Sears’ no-hitter in the bottom of the 7th inning. This is the second no-hitter Garcia has broken in the past week, having also broken the Ronel Blanco no-hitter in the bottom of the 6th in Sunday’s game against the Houston Astros.
Up Next:
The Texas Rangers dropped the series finale, resulting in their first series loss of the season. Texas still leads the American League West with a record of 7-6, while Oakland sits third with a record of 5-8. The Rangers will head down to Houston, Texas, to take on the Astros for a three-game series starting Friday, April 12th at 7:10 p.m. Central. The probable pitchers are Dane Dunning (1-1, 4.15 ERA) for the Rangers and J.P. France (0-1, 4.76 ERA) for the Astros.
