by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: Texas Rangers Andre Beltre gets congratulations from coach Tony Beasley after connecting for a seventh inning home run off the Oakland A’s

The Oakland A’s missed a golden opportunity to win their fourth in a row and improve to 8-3 since the All-Star break. They led the Texas Rangers 6-5 with two-out in the bottom of the ninth. Ryan Madson had to retire just one more Ranger hitter to secure the win for Oakland. That hitter, Adrian Beltre, smoked Madson’s fastball into the stands in left-center with a man aboard to give the Rangers a 7-6 walk-off win.

The A’s jumped out a 2-0 lead in the first inning on the strength of Danny Valencia’s thirteen home run of the year. The Rangers scored in the bottom of the first when Ian Desmond hit one out. Desmond has nineteen so far this year.

The A’s scored three times in the third to take the lead 5-1. Valencia drove in his third run of the night with a double. The Rangers scored one in the fourth and two in the fifth to make it a 5-4 game. A’s manager Bob Melvin took Mengden out of the game with two out in the fifth. Both teams scored a run in the seventh but the A’s still led by one. Beltre hit his first dinger of the night in the seventh off John Axford.

The A’s still had a chance to win. Madson retired the first two hitters but a single and Beltre’s second homer of the night sent the A’s down to defeat.

Game notes- Daniel Mengden continues to struggle. He was very impressive in his first four starts but has not been able to replicate that success in his last five outings. Mengden went four 2/3rds innings and allowed four runs and seven hits. He gave up the solo homer to Ian Desmond in the first inning. The loss snapped the A’s three-game winning streak and their dropped to 7-4 since the All-Star break. They are ten games under .500 with a record of 45-55 and have just sixty-two games left in the season.

The Rangers’ Prince Fielder appears to be done for the season as he will be undergoing neck surgery shortly.

Game two of the three-game series will be played Tuesday night at Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Game time will be at 5:05 pm. Sonny Gray will be on the hill for Oakland. Gray had a rough outing last week against Houston and will be trying to be the Sonny of old. Nick Martinez, called up from Triple-A, will pitch for Texas.