Oakland A’s Chad Pinder (10) rounds the bases after hitting a top of the 12th inning grand slam against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington in the second game of the three game series (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s beat the Texas Rangers 14-7 in 12 innings to even the series at one game each Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The A’s fought back from a 3-1 deficit to take a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the ninth.

The A’s closer, Lou Trivino, had another disastrous outing. The big righty, facing the very hot-hitting Corey Seager saw Seager blast his 21st home run. It was Seager’s fifth homer in the last five games. With two outs, Ranger’s centerfielder Leody Taveras doubled for the second time in the game.

Kole Calhoun, pinch-hitting for Charlie Culberson, singled to drive in Taveras with the tying run. The game went into extra innings. The A’s scored a run in the top of the tenth. The Rangers got even in their half. No one scored in the 11th.

For one of the few times this season, a game went into the 12th inning. The A’s put it away as they scored eight runs in the top of the 12th to lead 14-6. The Rangers got one back, but it was not enough as Oakland won the game 14-7.

The Rangers grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. A’s starter James Kaprielian gave up a double to Rangers’ leadoff hitter Josh Smith. Former A’s shortstop Marcus Semien homered to give the Rangers the early 2-0 advantage.

The A’s scored one the second to close to make it a 2-1 game. The Rangers got the run back in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 3-1. Oakland scored three times in the top of the fifth. The A’s went to the bullpen after Kaprielian exited after five innings of work.

The A’s added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Sam Moll worked a scoreless sixth inning for the A’s. A.J.Puk went two innings and retired all six hitters he faced. It was up to Trivino to close out the game. He failed. As mentioned above, the Rangers scored twice to tie the game.

The A’s scored eight times in the top of the 12th. The big blow was Chad Pinder’s home run with the bases loaded. The A’s had just three hits in the 12th. The ghost runner and three walks helped the A’s put the eight runs on the board. Texas scored a run in their half of the 12th, but it didn’t matter as the A’s won 14-7.

Game notes– With the win, the A’s are 30-59. Texas falls to 40-45.

The hitting stars for Oakland were Sean Murphy and Chad Pinder. Murphy had two singles and two doubles in five at-bats. He reached base safely all five times. Pinder had a grand slam to ice the win for Oakland.

The A’s used seven pitchers Tuesday night. Texas used eight. Kirby Snead was the winning pitcher. Trivino was charged with his second blown save. Rangers’ reliever Dennis Santana took the loss.
The line score for Oakland was 14 runs, 13 hits, and no errors. The line for Texas was seven runs, nine hits, and two errors.

The rubber game of the three-game series will be played Wednesday night at Globe Life Field. First pitch at 5:05 pm PDT.

The A’s will send their All-Star pitcher Paul Blackburn (6-4, 3.36) out to face the Rangers. Blackburn will be going for his seventh win. He will be opposed by the Rangers RHP Jon Gray(5-4, 4.03).

The time of the game was 4:04. The announced attendance was 17,485.