Rangers Lose To Angels

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mark Trumbo homered, Grant Green drove in three runs and Garrett Richards pitched seven strong innings to lead the Angels to an 8-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night at Angel Stadium.

The Rangers didn’t make things easy on themselves, particularly starting pitcher Derek Holland, with three errors in the first two innings leading to four unearned runs. They made four errors in all.

One night after snapping a 14-game streak without a home run, Trumbo homered again, hitting a two-run blast in the first inning, his 31st homer of the season. Green had a sacrifice fly in the second inning and a two-run double in the sixth as the Angels won for the 12th time in their last 15 games.

Richards (6-6) continues to make a case for a permanent spot in the starting rotation, winning for the third time in his last four starts. He gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings, finishing his outing by striking out the side in the seventh.

For the Rangers, the loss was their third in a row and the fifth in six games. In

the meantime, they lost their hold on first place in the American League West and now trail the Oakland A’s by 1 1/2 games, their largest deficit since they were two games back on Aug. 5.

Holland (9-8) gave up eight runs (four earned) and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. A.J. Pierzynski homered for Texas, his 17th of the season.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Adrian Beltre’s RBI single, but the Angels responded with three in the bottom of the first, highlighted by Trumbo’s two-run homer, his 31st home run of the season. The Rangers committed two errors in the inning.

Jurickson Profar’s RBI single in the second inning cut the Angels’ lead to 3-2, but another Rangers error led to an unearned run in the bottom of the second. Grant Green drove in the run with a sacrifice fly.

The Angels increased their lead to 5-2 in the third inning in Chris Iannetta’s RBI single.