Oakland A’s rightfielder Ramon Laureano slide on his knees to reach a shallow hit ball to no avail by the Texas Rangers Charlie Culberson in the top of the fifth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat May 28, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s (19-30) were back in action on Saturday afternoon in Oakland. The A’s played the same as the Texas Rangers (22-23) on Friday night in their last game. The A’s were defeated at home by the final of 8-5. In the first game of the series on Thursday, the A’s also lost by the final of 4-1.

On Saturday, it was game three of a four-game series that was set to begin at 1:05 PM PST. Set to on the mound was Zach Logue for the A’s and Taylor Hearn for the Rangers. Saturday saw the A’s lose their third straight game by the final of 11-4.

On Saturday, the Rangers got off to a quick start on offense. Neither the first or second innings were anything to write home about. However, then came the 3rd inning. The Rangers bats came alive in the third as they scored four runs.

Corey Seager hit a two-run home run off A’s starter Zach Logue to give the Rangers the early lead. Following that, Adolis Garcia went back to back with Seager with a solo homer to put the Rangers up 3-0. The Rangers weren’t done yet as Nathaniel Lowe would hit an RBI triple to wrap up the scoring in the 3rd inning.

In the bottom of the 4th inning, the A’s would get on the board themselves with an RBI single from Sheldon Neuse to make the score 4-1. The Rangers would add to that scoring surge in the 5th inning with six more runs.

Andy Ibanez and Kole Calhoun would each have an RBI single in the 5th inning but it was Marcus Semien and his grand slam that was the exclamation mark. At this point in the game, the Rangers were up 10-1 in the game and all A’s fans were looking for was a little life from the squad.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, the A’s would add a second run on a Ramon Laureano solo shot to left field. However, the momentum would turn back to the Rangers soon after.

In the 6th inning, the Rangers would get their last run of the game on a Marcus Semien bases-loaded walk to make it an 11-2 game. The A’s managed to get out of that inning to hold the Rangers to just one run.

Sheldon Neuse would get another RBI single in the 6th inning to make it an 11-3 game. The rest of the way the A’s scored one more run on a fielder’s choice out on Elvis Andrus and Ramon Laureano scored. It was a rough go-around for the A’s who have really struggled this series against the Rangers.

The win went to Rangers starter Taylor Hearn (3-3, 5.36) who didn’t pitch a great game but well enough for the win. He tossed 6.0 innings giving up eight hits and three runs. The loss went to A’s starter Zach Logue (2-4, 5.47) who really struggled in 2.1 innings giving up seven hits, four runs, and two home runs. No save was recorded.

Up Next: The A’s finish out the four-game series against the Rangers on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 PM PST.