by Jerry Feitelberg

The Texas Rangers pounded the A’s again by a score of 8-1 and swept the three-game series. It was another dismal day for A’s pitchers as they were touched for eight runs and thirteen hits. The Rangers scored twenty-six runs in the series and they increased their lead in the AL West to 3 and 1/2 games over the Houston Astros.
Chris Bassitt pitched three innings for the A’s. Bassitt made his first start since August 26th when he was shut down with soreness in his shoulder. Bassitt was the losing pitcher and his record for 2015 is 1-7. The A’s used seven pitchers in the game. The Rangers ace, Cole Hamels went six innings, and all the A’s could manage was one run on four hits. The Rangers used three more pitchers to close out the game. Hamels is now 5-1 with Texas and 11-8 overall.

The Rangers scored twice in the first inning. Delino DeShields led off with a single. DeShields stole second and scored on a double by Shin-Soo Choo. Prince Fielder ground out and Choo went to third on the play. Adrian Beltre singled to drive in Choo with the second run of the game for Texas.
The Rangers added a run in the second. Rougned Odor led off with a single. Catcher Chris Gimenez singled to put two men on with one out. DeShields singled to drive in Odor with the run. A’s trail 3-0 in the middle of the third.

The Rangers scored three times in the top of the sixth. The Rangers put together three hits and two walks to add to their lead. A’s reliever Fernando Abad was ineffective as he pitched just 2/3rds of an inning allowing two hits and two walks and was charged with all three runs.

The Rangers continued to hit A’s pitching hard. Shin-Soo Choo led off with a single to start the eighth. Prince Fielder followed with a blast for his twenty-second homer of the year. A’s trail 8-1.

Game Notes – The A’s lost their fifth game in a row and are twenty-five games under the .500 mark. The A’s have clinched their worst record since going 65-7 in 1997, and they clinched the last place on the AL West. The A’s starters are 6-21 with a 6.39 ERA over the last 40 games going back to August 11th. The A’s made two more errors Thursday, and no have 117 for the season, which is tied with Pittsburgh for the most in the majors.
Billy Butler recorded his 1,400 major league hit when he doubled in the seventh inning. Marcus Semien hit safely in his eighth straight game.
The Rangers travel to Houston for a big series with the Astros starting Friday.
The A’s welcome the San Francisco Giants for a three-game series starting Friday. Sonny Gray will be on the mound for Oakland, and Mike Leake will pitch for the Giants. Saturday’s game will feature two members of the A’s Big Three pitching against each other. Barry Zito will make his first big league start since 2013 and his friend and former teammate, Tim Hudson will pitch for San Francisco. Both pitchers are expected to retire at the end of the year. The third member of the Big Three, Mark Mulder, will be here in Oakland over the weekend.
Time of game was three hours and twenty minutes, and 14,452 people watch the A’s go down to defeat.
Game time on Friday will be at 7:05 pm PT and the Saturday and Sunday contests will be day games starting at 1:05 pm.