Rangers Lose To A’s
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Oakland Athletics catcher John Jaso is in such a good groove, his manager even let him hit against a left-hander on Sunday.
And it paid off.
Jaso had two hits and three RBIs, including a two-run double in the fifth that put the finishing touches on the A’s 9-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday night.
Left fielder Yoenis Cespedes and Jaso, hitting .380 in his last 15 games, combined for four hits and five RBIs.
Oakland (65-39) took two of three games from Texas (41-64) in the weekend series between the first-place and last-place teams in the American League West.
Cespedes’ two-run double and Jaso’s run-scoring single keyed Oakland’s five-run second inning.
“I considered it,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said of pinch-hitting for the left-handed-hitting Jaso, who has only 24 at-bats against lefties while in a platoon situation with Derek Norris. “I don’t want to go into why I make some decisions. But I thought about it.”
Right fielder Josh Reddick, who went 3-for-5, second baseman Eric Sogard and designated
hitter Stephen Vogt also had RBIs for the Athletics, who remain two games up on the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.
Oakland left-hander Scott Kazmir (12-3) lasted five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks without his best command. He struck out two.
Right-hander Miles Mikolas (1-3) got hit hard as the Rangers fell to 4-19 in July. Mikolas gave up eight runs on seven hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings.
“Giving guys free passes is never a good idea,” said Mikolas, who made his fifth start of the season after being called up earlier this month. “Struggled with my control a little today. I think I fell in to some of my bad habits that we’d been working on to correct in the bullpen.”
A two-run home run in the second inning by second baseman Adam Rosales and third baseman Adrian Beltre’s solo shot in the eighth accounted for Texas’ runs.
Jaso, in the leadoff spot with outfielder Coco Crisp missing his second game in three days because of a sore neck, has hit safely in 15 consecutive games when topping the batting order. In his past 15 games overall, the Oakland catcher is hitting .380 with five doubles, two triples, a home run and 13 RBIs.
With Sogard on second and center fielder Craig Gentry on first after a walk, Texas manager called on left-hander Ryan Feierabend to face the lefty Jaso.
Jaso cleared the bases with a double to right-center field.
Kazmir scuffled a little, allowing baserunners in four of his five innings. However, he is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA since taking his last loss, on July 24 against the New York Mets, who hit him for seven runs in three innings.
“Maybe not his best command at times,” Melvin said. “We see him so good all the time, when he gives you a five-inning outing it seems it wasn’t his best.
“But still, he always puts us in position to win.”
Texas, which left seven runners on base, put runners on second and third in both the third and fifth innings for first baseman J.P. Arencibia, but he struck out both times.
The A’s sent nine hitters to the plate in the second inning and scored five times on three hits, keyed by Cespedes’ two-run double.
The rally was set up by consecutive one-out walks and a throwing error by Mikolas, who fielded a comebacker and tried to get a forceout at second. Shortstop Jed Lowrie scored from third when Mikolas’ throw went into center field. Jaso followed with a run-scoring single before Vogt’s RBI double and the double to left by Cespedes.
“Hindsight, I wish he would have taken the out at first,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “Everything had to work out perfect right there. Just got a little erratic in the second inning and we ended up paying for it.”
