Rangers Beat A’s

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ARLINGTON, Texas — The Oakland Athletics’ playoff hopes, which at one point this season appeared as safe as any proposition in baseball, now might come down to the last day of the season.

The Texas Rangers used a committee of pitchers to fill in for Derek Holland and defeat the Athletics 5-4 on Saturday.

Left fielder Jake Smolinski had a solo home run in the fourth and catcher Robinson Chirinos hit a two-run home run in the seventh to make a winner out of right-hander Spencer Patton, one of eight Rangers pitchers.

The Athletics (87-74) need a victory Sunday — the final day of the season — or a loss by the Seattle Mariners (85-75) to clinch an American League wild-card spot. Seattle is one game back after beating the Los Angeles Angel in 11 innings on Sartuday night.

If Oakland and Seattle finished tied for the second spot, the Mariners would host a one-game play-in.

Kansas City (88-73) already has clinched a wild-card berth. The Royals would host the wild-card game if Oakland secures a spot and finishes tied with Kansas City, based on the Royals winning the season series.

“These things are tough,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. “It takes a while to digest these things and then you move on to whatever scenario it is.”

Oakland right-hander Jeff Samardzija (5-6) — who had given up seven runs in his

previous six starts — took the loss, giving up all five Texas runs on eight hits in seven innings. His run of 23 innings without allowing an earned run was snapped in Texas’ two-run first.

Second baseman Rougned Odor and third baseman Adrian Beltre had RBIs in the inning for Texas (67-94), which has won 13 of its past 15 games.

Chirinos’ two-run homer in the seventh turned out to be the game winner.

“The long ball got me today,” Samardzija said. “I thought I pitched pretty well. That ball ran back over the plate and Chirinos took advantage of it.

“I really needed a shutdown inning there in the seventh and get back with a one-run deficit and we’re probably looking at a different result.”

Third baseman Josh Donaldson, who went 3-for-4, hit his 29th home run for Oakland. Right fielder Josh Reddick went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the eighth, part of a two-run rally that trimmed a 5-2 deficit to one.

With runners at the corners and two outs, first baseman Alberto Callaspo drove a ball to the wall, but it was caught for the final out of the inning.

“I thought it was out,” Melvin said. “Talk about a game of inches. I thought it was definitely out.”

Patton, the only Texas reliever to work a full inning, was awarded the victory — his first major-league triumph — by the official scorer after right-handed starter Scott Baker failed to pitch the minimum five innings to qualify for a victory.

Right-hander Neftali Feliz worked a scoreless ninth for this 13th save.

Holland, the left-hander slated to make his sixth start of the season, was scratched because of migraine headaches.

Baker, the Rangers’ starter, surrendered two runs on four hits over four innings before being relieved by lefty Alex Claudio, who inherited runners at the corners with no outs in the fifth.

Claudio induced a double-play ground ball to limit the Athletics, who hit into another double play in the sixth with runners at first and second with one out. Oakland had another chance with two outs in the seventh and a runner at third, and second baseman Nick Punto flied out to right.

“We’ve put him in this situation before and he’s done well with it,” Texas interim manager Tim Bogar said of Baker, who lobbied to remain in the game. “We let him go as long as we could.”

Donaldson’s home run gave Oakland an early edge, but the Rangers got that back and then some with two runs in their half of the first.

Shortstop Elvis Andrus singled, stole second and scored on Odor’s base hit to right field. Beltre’s run-scoring single brought Odor home.

Smolinski increased the Rangers’ lead to 3-1 with a one-out home run in the fourth inning.

The A’s put their first two runners on base in the fifth inning but had to settle for one run. First baseman Stephen Vogt hit into a double play, which scored Reddick from third base.

“You can’t let [the double plays] get you down,” Melvin said. “You have to keep going and we did. We got some really good at-bats after that.”

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