by Jerry Feitelberg

The Texas Rangers pounded the A’s Wednesday night in Oakland by a score of 10-3. A’s starter, Felix Doubront, went 4 and 2/3rds inning allowing 8 hits and seven runs all earned. Doubront allowed two Earl Weaver homers. Weaver managed the Baltimore Orioles many years ago and he believed in the three-run homer. Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre each had one. Colby Lewis continued his mastery of the A’s beating them for the eleventh time in his career. With the win, the Rangers increased their lead over the Houston Astros to three games. Houston lost to the Angels and are just one game ahead of the Minnesota Twins for the second Wild Card slot. The Rangers travel to Houston after Thursday’s game with the A’s.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third. Rangers’ pitcher, Colby Lewis, walked Brett Lawrie to start the inning. Eric Sogard singled to move Lawrie into scoring position. A’s rookie catcher, Carson Blair, singled to drive in Lawrie. The A’s loaded the bases, but Lewis struck out Danny Valencia to end the threat. 1-0 after three.
The lead didn’t last long as the Rangers scored four times in the top of the fourth. Three straight singles by Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder and Mitch Moreland tied the game at one. Ranger shortstop, Elvis Andrus, hit his seventh dinger of the year to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead in the middle of the fourth.

Texas added three more runs in the fifth. Delino DeShields led off the inning with a double to right and advanced to third when Josh Reddick could handle the ball cleanly. Doubront walked Shin-Soo Choo to put two men on with no out. Rangers’ third baseman and future member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Adrian Beltre hit a monster shot that went halfway to the moon before landing on the left field steps as it came down from space in front of the Cache Creek sign. The A’s did not score in their half of the fifth. Texas out in front 7-1.

A’s right fielder, Josh Reddick, led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo blast to right. Reddick was attempting to atone for the two errors he committed earlier in the game. A’s trail 7-2 after six. The A’s scored another run in the bottom of the seventh. Eric Sogard hit his first home run of the year leading off. Sogard had 457 plate appearances since he last homered in 2014, and it was his first in 141 games. A’s trail 7-3 heading into the eighth.

Texas continued to clobber the A’s. Their second baseman, Rougned Odor, led off the ninth with a bomb down the right field line. Drew Stubbs walked and then scored all the way from first on a double by Will Venable. Shin-Soo Choo singled to drive in Venable with the tenth run of the game. The A’ lose 10-3.

Game Notes- The A’s have lost four in a row and have 88 losses that match the most by an A’s team in the last 18 years. The A’s are 6-9 over the last 15 games and 13-26 over the last 39 games. A’s starting pitchers are 6-20 with a 6.36 ERA over the last 39 games dating back to August 11th. Felix Doubront is 2-2 with an 8.33 ERA over his last five starts. Doubront took the loss and his record is now 3-3 for the year.

The Rangers have won three of the last four games and nine of the last twelve and are 43-34 on the road. Colby Lewis won his seventeenth game of the year and is now 11-4 lifetime against the A’s.

The A’s conclude the three-game set with Texas Thursday afternoon at 12:30 pm at the O.co Coliseum. Chris Bassitt(1-6, 2.82 ERA) will pitch for Oakland, and Texas will send their ace, Cole Hamels (4-1, 3.73 ERA) to face the Green and Gold.

Time of game was 2 hours and fifty-two minutes and 16,445 were on hand to watch the A’s lose.