Rangers Beat A’s
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Texas Rangers trailed 5-3 and had a runner on first base with no outs in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday night when Mitch Moreland came to the plate against Oakland A’s left-hander Sean Nolin.
The first baseman did what does so often against the A’s, especially at the O.co Coliseum, launching a pitch out of the park.
Moreland hit his career-high-tying 23rd home run of the season, and the Rangers rallied to defeat Oakland 8-6, increasing their lead in the American League West to two games over the Houston Astros.
The Rangers (81-69) scored three times in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead.
The home run was the 14th of Moreland’s career against the A’s, the most he has hit against any team. Moreland has 10 of those homers at the pitcher-friendly Coliseum, more than at any other road stadium. Moreland’s blast Tuesday was his career-high fifth of the year against a left-hander.
“That’s one of the great things about baseball,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. “Some things that you look at, you can’t quite explain.
“Some guys have more confidence and see the ball and have better
matchups against a different set of pitchers, and I just think that Mitch, for whatever reason, likes swinging the bat in this ballpark. He sees the ball well. He doesn’t miss his pitch.”
Left fielder Mike Napoli led off the sixth with an infield single, and Moreland sent Nolin’s 2-1 pitch over the center field fence, pulling the Rangers even and knocking Nolin out of the game.
Moreland said that “for some reason” he sees the ball well at the Coliseum.
“I feel comfortable in the box,” Moreland said. “Just try to go up there and put a good swing on it. But, yeah, I feel pretty good here.”
Nolin left a fastball higher than he wanted, and Moreland made him pay for his mistake.
“I just didn’t throw it where I wanted,” Nolin said. “It was up. I was trying to go in, maybe not even for a strike, but it just got away from me.”
Shortstop Elvis Andrus continued the rally with a hard comebacker off of reliever Drew Pomeranz’s foot, reaching safely with an infield single. Andrus moved to second when A’s first baseman Mark Canha booted Rougned Odor’s drag bunt. Catcher Chris Gimenez advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and center fielder Delino DeShields hit a sacrifice fly, giving Texas a 6-5 lead.
Other than Moreland’s two-run blast, the Rangers relied on solid situational hitting and aggressive baserunning. They had four sacrifice flies and three sacrifice bunts.
“We’ve been doing that for a little while, now that we started playing better,” Andrus said.
The Rangers added two runs in the eighth. Andrus hit a one-out double, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Odor’s single. Odor moved to third on Gimenez’s ground-rule double and scored on DeShields’ sacrifice fly.
Moreland went 3-for-4 with a walk. DeShields went 1-for-2, scored twice and drove in two runs with a pair of sacrifice flies. Andrus had two hits in four at-bats and scored twice. Third baseman Adrian Beltre had a single and a double and drove in two runs.
Rangers left-hander Martin Perez lasted only four innings and got a no-decision. He gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits, struck out three and walked three.
Right-hander Chi Chi Rodriguez (4-5) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Perez for the win, and Keone Kela pitched a scoreless seventh. Jake Diekman and Sam Dyson blanked Oakland in the eighth.
Texas closer Shawn Tolleson gave up a run in the ninth, as Canha hit a one-out double and third baseman Danny Valencia singled him home with two outs. However, Tolleson retired designated hitter Billy Butler on a game-ending ground ball to record his 33rd save.
“It wasn’t the best-played game in the world, but again we end up coming into the ninth inning where we have a chance,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “At times we had good at-bats. At times we didn’t. At times we made some good defensive plays. Other times we didn’t.”
Nolin gave up five runs on seven hits over five innings and got a no-decision. Pomeranz (5-6) took the loss, giving up an unearned run in his lone inning.
Left fielder Jake Smolinski and shortstop Marcus Semien had RBI triples for the A’s. Canha had two hits, including a double.
