Tag: texas rangers

The Texas Rangers Mark Mathias is greeted by teammates at the plate after swinging for a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the visiting Oakland A’s in the first of a two game series at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington on Tue Sep 13, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s and the Texas Rangers played a very entertaining game Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Both teams had no trouble solving the slants of two lefty starting pitchers. Rangers’ starter Cole Ragans went four-plus innings and allowed eight hits and seven runs.

The A’s Ken Waldichuk lasted five innings. Waldichuk allowed eight hits and five runs. Seven of the eight hits were for extra bases. The Rangers had six doubles, one home run, and a single. Texas tied the game in the seventh and won on a walk-off home run to win 8-7.

Oakland drew first blood in the top of the first. With two out, Chad Pinder singled. Pinder went to second on a wild pitch. Ragans then walked Shea Langeliers. The next hitter, A’s first baseman, Dermis Garcia, belted his third home run to give Oakland an early 3-0 lead.

The Rangers weren’t fazed. They put two on the board in their half of the first. Former A’s shortstop Marcus Semien led off with a double. Waldichuk retired the next two hitters. Adolis Garcia doubled to drive in Semien. Third baseman Josh Jung also doubled to drive in Garcia. The A’s led 3-2 

The A’s scored three times in the top of the fourth. With one out, Jonah Bride and Sheldon Neuse singled. Nick Allen’s double drove in two. Cristian Pache singled to give Oakland a 6-2 lead. 

The A’s made it 7-2 in the top of the fifth. Chad Pinder led off the inning with a double. Rangers’ manager Tony Beasley brought in lefty Taylor Hearn to pitch. Hearn Retired Langeliers for the first out. Garcia doubled to drive in Pinder. 

The Rangers plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Waldichuk was tagged for back-to-back doubles by Marcus Semien and Mark Mathias. Waldichuk retired Nate Lowe for the first out. Adolis Garcia blasted his 25th homer to make it 7-5 after five. Waldichuk was done for the night. He allowed six doubles, one home run, and one single in his five innings. He threw 82 pitches.

The Rangers tied the game in the seventh. Austin Pruitt was on the hill for Oakland. Marcus Semien led off the inning with his third double of the night. It was the first time in Semien’s career that he had three doubles in a game. The next hitter, Mark Mathias, homered to make it 7-7.

The Rangers’ relievers, lefties Taylor Hearn and Brook Burke, allowed the A’s just one hit in the last four innings of the game. The A’s A.J.Puk pitched well in the seventh and eighth. A’s manager Mark Kotsay brought in Joel Payamps to pitch the ninth.

Payamps retired Semien for the first out. The next hitter, Mark Mathias, sent the Rangers’ fans home with smiles as he hit his second home run of the night to win it for Texas 8-7.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s are now 51-91. Texas improved to 62-80. 

The line score for Oakland was seven runs, ten hits, and no errors. Texas’ line was eight runs, eleven hits, and no errors. The Rangers hit seven doubles, three home runs, and just one lonely single. It was quite an impressive display of power. 

Dermis Garcia doubled and homered to drive in four runs. Chad Pinder had three hits for Oakland. The hitting stars for Texas were Marcus Semien, with three doubles, and Mark Mathias, with a double and two home runs.

The A’s and Texas have played 18 times this year. Texas leads 11-7. 

Lefty J.P.Sears (5-2, 3.33) goes for Oakland on Wednesday. Dane Dunning (3-8, 4.39) will pitch for Texas.

The time of the game was 2:41. 14,916 people watched a very entertaining game.

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s, suffering from their worst season since 1979, have 21 games left on the schedule. They are on the road for two with the Texas Rangers and four with the Astros in Houston. They return home for three with the playoff-bound Seattle Mariners and three with the National League first-place New York Mets. Oakland travels to LA for three with the Angels and three more with the Mariners. The A’s finish the season hosting the Angels for the final three games of the year. The A’s are 51-90 so far this season. They must win twelve of the last 21 games to avoid 100 losses. It will not be easy as they play three teams heading for the playoffs; the Astros, the Mariners, and the Mets.

The schedule has them playing two against the Rangers for the final time this season. The guys that hang out at Globe Life Field are tied with the Angels for third place in the AL West. Both teams own a 61-69 record. Neither team has lived up to expectations this year. Both teams have fired their manager midway through the year. The Angels dismissed Joe Maddon and replaced him with Phil Nevins. The Rangers fired Chris Woodward and named Tony Beasly as the interim manager. Both the Angels and Rangers spent heavily to improve the team. Money did not do the trick.
On the other hand, Oakland traded away several of its top players to reduce payroll. Gone are Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Mark Canha, Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Jake Diekman, Sergio Romo, Starling Marte, Yan Gomes, and Josh Harrison. The A’s released three veterans midway through the season. Gone are Jed Lowrie, Stephen Piscotty, and Elvis Andrus. The A’s have used 60 players, including 28 rookies and 19 rookie pitchers. They have the worst record in baseball. Their team batting average is .217. The A’s are trying out players that they think will be on the roster in 2023. They have two veterans that may be shopped over the winter. They are catcher Sean Murphy and outfielder Ramon Laureano.

So, this brings us to Tuesday night’s game with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers gave huge contracts to Marcus Semien and Corey Seager before the start of the 2022 season. The Rangers were hoping to challenge the Astros for the AL West crown. The Rangers forgot to get pitching. They have guys who can hit the ball out of the park but need pitching. To contend, Texas, like all the teams in the playoffs race, needs three basic things: good hitting, good pitching, and good defense. It’s called strength up the middle. The Rangers have several core players to build around. They include Nate Lowe, Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, and Jonah Heim. These guys can play. Rookie Bubba Thompson is hitting .296 and could be a player for Texas.

The A’s will be looking to see if players like Nick Allen, Cristian Pache, Jonah Bride, Dermis Garcia, Cody Thomas, Skye Bolt, and Cal Stevenson fit into their plans for 2023. Will the A’s keep veteran players like Tony Kemp, Chad Pinder, Sheldon Neuse, and Seth Brown? So, let’s look at the starting pitchers for the next two games.

On Tuesday, The A’s will send rookie lefty Ken Waldichuk to the hill to face the Rangers. Waldichuk will be making his third start. He is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA. In his last start against a very powerful Atlanta Brave lineup, Waldichuk went five and 1/3rd innings. He allowed three hits and three runs. His only problem was that two of the hits left the park. The Braves won the game 7-3. The Rangers will send their rookie lefty Cole Ragans to the mound. Ragans is 0-2 with a 3.80 ERA. Ragans has yet to win his first game in the bigs.

On Wednesday, lefty J.P.Sears will be looking to rebound from his tough outing against the Chicago White Sox last week. Sears and Waldichuk came to Oakland in the trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the New York Yankees. Sears lasted two innings and allowed eight hits and six runs. Three of the hits were home runs. Righty Dane Dunning will pitch for Texas. Dunning has faced the A’s twice this year. On May 29th, he went four and 1/3rd inning and allowed seven hits and three runs. Dunning did not figure in the decision. He beat the A’s on August 18th. Dunning went six innings in that game and allowed four hits and two runs. He got credit for the win.

The Rangers want to finish in third place in the AL West. The A’s want to get any wins to avoid losing 100 or more games. The Rangers are 11-6 against the A’s this year. The odds favor the Rangers, but as they say in baseball; “You never know”

Bubba Thompson, Leody Taveras and Adolis Garcia, from left to right do their best Rockettes impression after the Texas Rangers defeat the Oakland A’s at Globe Life Field in Arlington to conclude the four game series on Thu Aug 18, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Texas Rangers routed the A’s 10-3 to earn a split of the four-game series played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Thursday afternoon.

The A’s lefty Zach Logue did not make it out of the fifth inning. The Rangers tallied seven runs and had two home in the assault on Logue. The Rangers’ starter Dane Dunning went six innings and allowed four hits and two runs. 

The Rangers scored the game’s first runs in the bottom of the second. Adolis Garcia singled up the middle to get things going for Texas. Jonah Heim went to Texas in the trade for Elvis Andrus and tripled to drive in Garcia with the first run. Heim was thrown out trying to score on a wild pitch. Logue’s pitch went to the backstop. Langeliers got to the ball quickly, and his throw to Logue, covering home plate, nailed Heim. The Rangers’ DH Mark Mathias blasted his second dinger of the year to give Texas an early 2-0 lead.

Oakland tied the game in the top of the fourth. With one out, Seth Brown doubled. Dunning retired Stephen Vogt for the second out. A’s second baseman, Sheldon Neuse, homered over the left field wall to even the score. The tie didn’t last long as Texas scored two more in their half of the fourth. Logue hit Nate Lowe with a pitch. Logue walked Garcia to put two men on with no out. Jonah Heim singled to drive in Lowe. Garcia stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly. The Rangers led 4-2 after four complete.

Things went south for Logue in the bottom of the fifth. With none out, Logue walked Marcus Semien. Corey Seager singled, sending Semien to third. Seager went to second on the throw. Nate Lowe broke open the game when he blasted his 17th home run of the 2022 campaign to make it a 7-2 game. Logue was done.

Texas added a run in the sixth to make it 8-2. Oakland got one back in the seventh. Rookie catcher Shea Langeliers doubled., then went to third on a ground out. Langeliers scored on a wild pitch. The Rangers plated two more in the eighth to win, going away 10-3.

Game Notes: With the loss, the A’s finished the seven-game road trip, winning two and losing five. The A’s are now 43-76 for the year. Texas improved to 53-65.

Zach Logue took the loss. His record is now 3-7the A’s used four pitchers. In addition to allowing ten hits, they walked six and hit two batters. Texas’ starter Dane Dunning improved to 3-6. 

The A’s line was three runs, five hits, and one error. The only A’s hitter with more than one hit was Vimael Machin. Machin had two singles. 

Jonah Heim, Mark Mathias, and Bubba Thompson led the Texas attack with two hits each. Texas’ line score was ten runs, ten hits, and no errors.

The A’s defense committed their 71st of the season. They are tied with the Rangers for the second most errors in the American League.

The A’s return home to start a ten-game homestand. They play the Seattle Mariners for three starting Friday night. On Monday, The ‘s will host the Miami Marlins for three. After the Marlins leave, the A’s will play four with the New York Yankees.

Friday night’s game will feature a battle between two lefties. Cole Irvin will go for Oakland, and the Mariners will counter with Marco Gonzales.

Former Oakland A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus was not unemployed very long. Andrus signed on with the Chicago White Sox for the remainder of the season. Neither Jed Lowrie or Stephen Piscotty have signed play with another team.

The time of the game on Thursday was two hours and fifty-two minutes. Sixteen thousand six hundred ninety-five fans watched the Rangers rout the A’s.

Texas Rangers catcher Meibrys Viloria can’t get a handle on the ball as Oakland Athletics’ Sean Murphy (12) scores on a single by Chad Pinder in the top of eighth at Globe Life Field in Arlington on Wed Aug 17, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

On another emotional day for the Oakland A’s (43-75) and the Texas Rangers (52-65), the A’s won their second game in a row, downing the Rangers 7-2. The A’s cut ties with their veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus. Andrus can now sign with any team. I have included the A’s press release in the game notes section.

The Rangers are in a bit of turmoil, too. On Monday, the Rangers fired their manager Chris Woodward. On Wednesday, they dismissed Jon Daniels, who was with the team for 17 years and was the president of their baseball operations. Daniels had also been their general manager. The Rangers also designated pitcher Garrett Richards for assignment.

Even with all the day’s events, the teams still had to play a baseball game. The A’s sent Adam Oller to the mound to face the Rangers. Oller struggled earlier in the season. His record of 1-5 and ERA of 7.62 was not impressive. He was sent down to Triple-A Las Vegas to work on some of his issues.

Since his return, he has performed better. On Wednesday night, Oller pitched his finest game as an Oakland Athletic. He went six innings and allowed five hits and one run. He recorded his second win of the year.

The Rangers’ starter, lefty Cole Ragans, went five innings and allowed four hits and three runs. The A’s catcher Sean Murphy sent two of Ragans’ pitches over the fence. Murph hit a solo blast in the first and a two-run jack in the fourth. 

The A’s grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first when Murphy homered with two out. It was Murph’s 15th of the season. The Rangers tied the score in their half of the inning. With one out Corey Seager singled. Seager went to second on a wild pitch. Oller retired Nate Lowe for the second out. Adolis Garcia doubled to drive in Seager with the run.

In the fourth, David MacKinnon walked, making his first start in an Oakland uniform. Murphy brought him home when he sent the ball over the fence in right-center-field. It was the second time in Murphy’s career that he had a multi-homer game. The A’s led 3-1. The Rangers’ pitching kept the A’s off the board until the eighth. 

Murphy led off the inning in the eighth with a double, his third hit of the night. Chad Pinder singled to drive in Murphy. The play at the plate was close. The throw to Rangers’ catcher Meibrys Viloria was on the money.

Unfortunately for Texas, Viloria could not hold onto the ball as it dropped out of his glove, attempting to put the tag on Murphy. Pinder went to third on the error.

Vimael Machin, pinch-hitting for Sheldon Neuse, singled to drive in Pinder with the A’s fifth run of the game. Oakland was done. The next hitter, Shea Langeliers, homered over the wall in right-center-field to put the A’s in the driver’s seat 7-1.

The Rangers scored a run in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late. The A’s win 7-2.

Game Notes: The A’s won their second in a row to improve to 43-75. The Rangers fall to 52-65.

The winning pitcher was Adam Oller. He is now 2-5. The loser was Cole Ragans.

Sean Murphy was the hitting star for Oakland. Murphy had a double, a solo homer, and a two-run shot. He drove in three runs. Rookie Shea Langeliers hit his first Major League home run in just his eighth at-bat in the bigs.

Game four of the series will start at 11:05 am on Thursday. The A’s will have lefty Zach Logue (3-6, 5.49) on the mound. Texas will counter with righty Dane Dunning (2-6, 4.12)

The time of the game was two hours and 58 minutes. 14,846 fans were on hand to watch the A’s down the Rangers

Here is the press release from the A’s regarding Elvis Andrus

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics recalled infielder Sheldon Neuse from Triple-A Las Vegas and released shortstop Elvis Andrus, the club announced today.

Neuse joins the A’s for the third time this year and is batting .227 with three home runs and 21 RBI in 70 games over his first two stints with Oakland. He was on the A’s Opening Day roster and hit .329 over his first 22 games, but a 13-for-91 (.143) stretch preceded his first option to Las Vegas on June 7.

The 27-year-old right-handed hitter batted .227 with a home run and four RBI in 21 games during his second stint from June 21 to July 27. Neuse is hitting .398 with five home runs, 20 RBI, and a 1.018 OPS in 25 games with the Aviators.

Andrus was batting .237 with eight home runs and 30 RBI in 106 games in his second season with Oakland. He was acquired by the A’s from the Texas Rangers on Feb. 6, 2021, with Aramis Garcia for Khris Davis, Jonah Heim, and Dane Acker and hit .243 with three home runs and 37 RBI in 146 games in his A’s debut last year.

The 33-year-old is a two-time All-Star (2010, 12) and left as the Rangers’ all-time leader in stolen bases (305). He also ranked second in games (1652), at-bats (6366) and triples (48), third in runs (893) and hits (1743), fifth in doubles (303) and walks (519), seventh in RBI (636) and eighth in extra-base hits (427).

Andrus has played 1,872 career games in the field, all at shortstop, which is the fifth-longest career-opening streak of appearing only at shortstop in Major League history behind Derek Jeter (2674), Luis Aparicio (2583), Ozzie Smith (2511) and Alan Trammell (1910). He is a .270 career hitter with 87 home runs and 703 RBI in 1,904 games in 14 seasons in the majors. Andrus is the active leader in stolen bases (324), is tied for fourth in triples (50), ranks sixth in hits (1948) and games (1904), and ninth in runs (994).

The Oakland A’s Elvis Andrus is all smiles after belting a top of the seventh two run homer against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington on Tue Aug 16, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s snapped their nine-game losing streak Tuesday night as they beat the Texas Rangers 5-1. The A’s had a revamped lineup as they continued to make roster changes. The A’s released veteran outfielder Stephen Piscotty.

Piscotty had been with the A’s since 2018. Piscotty had a great year with the A’s in 2018, but injuries took their toll, and he was hitting below the Mendoza line and had missed considerable playing time in 2022.

The A’s put two players on the IL on Tuesday. Pitcher Paul Blackburn was shut down for the remainder of the season with a finger injury. Blackburn was the A’s only player to make it to the All-Star team. He was 7-6 for the year.

Outfielder Ramon Laureano is on the ten-day IL with an oblique strain. The A’s brought up infielder David MacKinnon and catcher Shea Langeliers. Langeliers came over from Atlanta in the trade for Matt Olson. Langeliers is 24 years old and was hitting .283 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs in 92 games for the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators.

J.P.Sears was making his second start since coming to the A’s from the New York Yankees. Sears went five innings and allowed four hits, no runs, three walks, and two strikeouts. The A’s bullpen allowed the Rangers just one run over the last four innings of the game to give Sears his fourth win.

The Rangers had Kohei Arihara on the mound. Arihara was making his first start of the season. The A’s scored a run in the first three innings and recorded seven hits in the first three frames.

The A’s drew first blood in the tip of the first inning. Cal Stevenson led off the game with a double. Tony Kemp bunted for a single, sending Stevenson to third. Sean Murphy popped out to short for the first out. Seth Brown, playing in right field, singled to drive in Stevenson.

Oakland made it a 2-0 game when they plated a run in the second inning. Shea Langeliers, making his Major League debut, sent the first pitch from Arihama down the left field line for a double. Langeliers advanced to third on Vimael Machin’s ground out. Jonah Bride singled to make it 2-0.

In the third, Sean Murphy launched a 454-foot blast to straightaway center field. There was no doubt that it was an actual moonshot.

The A’s brought in the big lefty, A.J.Puk to pitch the sixth. With one out, Rangers’ right-fielder Adolis Garcia singled. First Baseman Nate Low singled, sending Garcia to third. Former A’s catcher Jonah Heim reached on an infield single. Garcia scored to make it 3-1 after six complete.

The A’s put two more on the board in the seventh. Sean Murphy singled with one out. Seth Brown was retired for the second out. Former Rangers’ shortstop Elvis Andrus homered to put the A’s ahead 5-1.

The A’s bullpen shut the Rangers down the rest of the way. Domingo Acevedo, Kirby Snead, and Dany Jimenez all kept the Rangers from scoring to preserve the A’s win.

Game Notes- With the win, the A’s are 42-75. The Rangers fall to 52-64

The line score for Oakland was five runs, eleven hits, and no errors. The line for Texas was one run, nine hits, and no errors.

Sean Murphy had a home run and a single. Vimael Machin also had two hits, both singles.
The A’s outfielders recorded two assists in the game. Nate Lowe was at first base with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Jonah Heim hit a rocket to left field that bounced off the wall into Tony Kemp’s glove.

Kemp threw the ball to Elvis Andrus. Andrus double-clutched the ball, but his throw home was on the mark as Murphy tagged Lowe on the should before he could cross the plate. The play went 7-6-2.

The Rangers loaded the bases with one out. A’s starter J.P. Sears walked three hitters and needed a big play to get out of the jam. The Rangers had the speedy Leody Taveras at third. Ezequiel Duran was at second. Sears had to face a very dangerous hitter, Marcus Semien.

He got Semien to foul out to Seth Brown in right field. Brown had a long run and had to get into position to get ready to make a throw as Taveras had tagged up and was on his way home. Brown made a great throw.

Tavares stopped halfway down the line. When he tried to get back to third, he saw Duran was almost on the base. Taveras was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

Here is the announcement from the A’s regarding the release of Stephen Piscotty.
General manager David Forst thanked Piscotty, 31, for his impact on the club dating to his arrival ahead of the 2018 season in a trade from St. Louis that brought him back close to his home in Pleasanton.

His mother, Gretchen, died in May that year from Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Piscotty helped raise awareness for ALS. Major League Baseball held its first Lou Gehrig Day last year.

He helped lead the A’s back to the playoffs in 2018 after a three-year drought with career highs of 27 home runs and 88 RBIs.

“I want to acknowledge Stephen Piscotty first and just talk a little bit about his time here, which came at a really important time for us when we made that trade at the end of 2017,” Forst said in a conference call. “I appreciate everything that Stephen gave us both on and off the field in his time here.”

The time of the game was 3:07. The attendance was 15,260.

The teams play Wednesday night again at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The game will start at 5:07 pm. Adam Oller (1-5, 7.26 ERA) goes for Oakland. Lefty Cole Ragans(0-1, 4.82 ERA) will pitch for the Rangers.