Texas Rangers’ Marcus Semien is congratulated after scoring against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City on Wed Apr 19, 2023. Semien a former Oakland A will host his old team beginning Fri Apr 21, 2023 at Globe Life Field in Arlington (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s, owners of the worst record in baseball, 3-16, open a three-game series against the AL West Division leader, the Texas Rangers, Friday night in Arlington, Texas.

Former San Francisco skipper Bruce Bochy manages the Rangers. Bochy managed the San Francisco Giants to three World Series Championships and has his team at 12-6. They are 6-3 at home and 6-3 on the road. The Rangers beefed up their starting rotation by signing former New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom, and former Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi.

The Rangers are salivating to face the A’s starters this weekend. The A’s starting rotation has an abysmal 7.14 team ERA, the worst in all baseball. Nevertheless, A’s manager Mark Kotsay has named his starters for the series. Lefty JP Sears goes for Oakland Friday night. Sears is 0-1 and has an ERA of 4.60.

The Rangers will counter with Jon Gray (1-1, ERA 5.21). Saturday’s game will feature Oakland’s Shintaro Fujinami (0-3, ERA 11.37) facing off against Lefty Andrew Heaney (1-1. ERA 4.47). Fujinami’s first two starts were not good, but he did well in his last start. Lefty Kyle Muller (0-1, 7.23 ERA) will go for Oakland on Sunday. Muller pitched well in his first two starts but not well in his last outing. The Rangers have yet to announce their pitcher for Sunday’s game.

The A’s pitchers must be at the top of their game this weekend. The Rangers have players that can put runs on the board very quickly. The Rangers’ key players include three former A’s regulars. Catcher Jonah Heim has done a good job for the Rangers since coming over in the trade for Elvis Andrus.

Heim, a switch-hitter, loves to beat his old team. The Rangers’ second baseman is Marcus Semien. Semien left the A’s as a free agent at the end of the 2020 season. He starred for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021 and set a record for home runs by a player in that position. He sent 46 big flies out of the park that year.

Texas signed Semien to a very lucrative contract last year. The third former A’s player on the Texas roster is outfielder Robbie Grossman. The Rangers’ first baseman Nathaniel Lowe had a monster 2022 season. Lowe won a Silver Slugger award, and his slash line for 2022 was .302/.358/.492. Rangers’ shortstop Corey Seager signed a free-agent contract before the start of the 2022 season.

Seager, a former All-Star, is on the 10-day IL with a grade two hamstring strain and will not play this weekend. Outfielders Adolis Garcia, Bubba Thompson, and Travis Jankowski all can do damage with their bats. The Rangers’ DH is Brad Miller.

The A’s offense produced just three runs in the series against the Chicago Cubs this week. The pitching gave up 27 runs. The A’s were swept by the Mets last weekend. Oakland has lost seven straight and 13 of the last 14 games. The A’s bullpen has yet to have the desired results the team hoped. The offense did well against the Baltimore Orioles last week. Although they lost three of the four games, the A’s scored eight runs in two games and seven in another.

The A’s are off to the worst start since the 1951 Philadelphia A’s squad. Oakland needs to turn things around soon. It is said that you cannot win the pennant in the first month of the season. However, a team can lose it by falling so far back it will not recover. A couple of wins will help Kotsay sleep better.