Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (11) reacts in the dugout after being relieved in the third inning. Fujinami pitched just over two innings and got lit up for seven hits and eight earned runs against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life in Arlington on Sat Apr 22, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Saturday evening the Oakland A’s (4-17) took on the Texas Rangers (13-7) in game two of their three game series it was not the same winning result they had in game 1, in game 2 the A’s faced an avalanche of runs losing 18-3 . On Friday night the A’s had a great game with some outstanding pitching from JP Sears winning the game in the ninth inning. Pinch hitter Jordan Diaz hit his first big league homer in the ninth inning that broke the 4-4 tie handing the A’s a much needed win, breaking a seven-game losing streak.

Saturday game recap: The A’s took an early lead in the first inning of this game 1-0. Jordan Diaz hit a single driving in Esteury Ruiz for the first score of the game. Carlos Perez sacrificed flied and Diaz scored extending the A’s lead to 2-0. Oakland had the bases loaded in the inning but only came away with the two runs.

This was a tough break for the A’s. They had missed a huge opportunity in the opening inning and against the Rangers those opportunities do not come along very often. When they do you have to jump on them because missing them can totally change the direction of a game especially against a team with the offense that the Rangers have.

Texas sure did change the direction of this game from the first inning to game’s end. They tied up the game in the first 2-2 and it was then that the beat down began. Texas scored five runs in the second inning now leading 7-2. Adolis Garcia got the party started with a 2-run homer. Marcus Semien, Josh Jung and Leody Taveras all scored in the second inning.

The Rangers added four more runs in the third inning. Josh Smith, Semien scored and more from Garcia hitting a two-run home run to extend the Rangers lead to 11-2.

Garcia hit his third home run of the evening a two-run homer in the fifth and the A’s now trailed 13-2.

Oakland did score one more time in this game. Jesus Aguilar hit a solo home run in the eighth inning. By the eighth inning Texas had a strangle hold on Oakland 16-3. The final was 18-3. The Rangers had hit four homers in this game and had outhit the A’s 18 to 7.

I was rough start for Oakland pitcher Shintaro Fujinami. He is 0-4 with an ERA of 14.40 and only 12 strikeouts. He only went 2.1 innings in this game. The A’s went through four pitchers in the game and the relief pitchers that followed Fujinami did not fare much better.

Oakland will take on the Rangers tomorrow in game three of this series. After a loss like this, it will be tough to put this game behind them. Kyle Muller (0-1 ERA 7.23) will take the mound for the A’s. He has not won a game this year. The Rangers will counter Jacob deGrom (1-0 ERA 3.48) First pitch is scheduled for 11:35 AM.