Oakland A’s starter Chris Bassitt allowed only one run in seven innings pitched against the Texas Rangers on Thu Jun 24, 2021 at Arlington (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s (46-31) needed to beat the Texas Rangers (27-48) Thursday afternoon at Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Things have not gone for the Green and Gold on the ten-game road trip. The A’s were 2-4 coming into the game.

The A’s fell two games behind the rampaging Houston Astros in the race for first place in the AL West. Bob Melvin’s guys had to find a way to beat the young Texas team. Currently, in last place in the AL West, the Rangers beat the A’s twice in the series.

They scored eight runs in the first game, six in the second, and five last night. Bob Melvin knew the A’s had a chance to win as he sent out his ace, Chris Bassitt, to do the pitching. Bassitt entered the game with a record of 7-2. He gave the A’s what they needed. Bassitt went seven innings and allowed one run and five hits. He won his eighth game of the year 5-1 over the Rangers in Arlington, and it appears that Bassitt might be heading to this year’s All-Star game in Denver on July 13th.

The Rangers sent their promising lefty, Kolby Allard, to the hill to face the A’s. The A’s greeted him by putting three runs on the board in the first inning. With one out, Matt Chapman singled to start the rally. Chappie advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Matt Olson singled to send Chapman to third. Ramon Laureano doubled to plate Chapman with the A’s first run, Olson stopped at third base on the play. Olson scored the second run of the inning when Chad Pinder ground out 5-3. Jed Lowrie singled to drive in Laureano. The A’s led 3-0 halfway through the first inning.

The Rangers scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the second. Bassitt hit Rangers’ left fielder Eli White, leading off the inning with a pitch. White scampered to third on the play. Bassitt retired Willie Calhoun for the first out. The next hitter, Nick Solak, grounded out. White scored on the play. The A’s lead was now 3-1 after two innings.

Kolby Allard settled down. In the next five innings of work, he allowed just one and four hits. Jed Lowrie took Allard deep in the top of the fourth. Lowrie, hitting right-handed-blasted a 430-foot home run over the centerfield fence. It was Jed’s sixth dinger of the year. 

Oakland added a run in the top of the seventh. Josh Sborz was now pitching for Texas. A’s catcher, Aramis Garcia, singled to start the rally. Tony Kemp, who replaced Mark Canha in left field in the second inning, doubled to send Garcia to third. Sborz uncorked a wild pitch, and Garcia trotted home with the A’s fifth run.

Lefty Jake Diekman pitched a scoreless eighth, and Lou Trivino finished up, shutting the Rangers down in the ninth. The A’s win 5-1.

Game Notes and Stats: The A’s are now 46-31 for the season with the win. The A’s will either be one game or two games back, depending on what the Astros do against the Detroit Tigers later Thursday evening. 

Chris Bassitt was the man for Oakland Thursday. Bassitt improved to 8-2, and his ERA dropped to 3.25. In his seven innings of work, he allowed one run and five hits. He walked three, struck out four, and hit a batter. 

The hitting stars for Oakland were Jed Lowrie, Matt Olson, and Aramis Garcia. Lowrie had a single, homer, and two RBIs. Olson and Garcia each had two hits. The A’s finish the road trip with three games against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park starting Friday night. The Giants will open the park to full capacity Friday night, and a big crowd is anticipated. The A’s will have left Sean Manaea handle the pitching chores. Manaea’s is 6-3 with a 3.01 ERA. Johnny Cueto will go for the Giants. Cueto is 5-3 with a 4.05 ERA. The game will start at 6:45 pm. Let the Battle of the Bay begin!!!