A’s mess with Texas 9-1 in a laugher to win series

Photo credit: Oakland Athletics’ Twitter (@Athletics)

By: Ana Kieu

OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics concluded a three-game series against the Texas Rangers with a lopsided 9-1 victory at O.co Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon.

The A’s suffered a 7-0 blowout by the Rangers in the series opener on Monday. They followed with a 4-2 win over the rival Rangers on Tuesday. Ultimately, they won the series, taking two out of three games. A’s right-handed pitcher Jesse Hahn (1-1) notched the win against  Rangers left-handed pitcher Martin Perez (1-2).

Ryon Healy put the A’s on the board 1-0 with a line-drive single that scored Rajai Davis in the bottom of the first inning. Josh Phegley followed with a double, driving home Healy and Khris Davis to make it 3-0 A’s. Yonder Alonso added an RBI double to extend the A’s lead to 4-0 to end the inning on a high note.

The A’s made a questionable call in the top of the first inning, claiming Robinson Chirinos was out at first base. The Rangers challenged the call and the officials declared that Chirinos was safe.

Rangers manager Jeff Banister was ejected from the ballgame in the bottom of the third inning after arguing that the A’s ball was foul, but it was ruled a fair ball.

Joey Gallo ruined the A’s shutout bid with a solo home run to cut the deficit to 4-1 in the top of the fifth inning. Davis expanded the A’s lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. He hit a two-run home run and brought home Trevor Plouffe for his seventh of the season.

The runs just kept pouring in during the sixth inning. Chad Pinder scored his first home run of the season, increasing the A’s lead to 7-1. Plouffe then hit a two-run single that scored Davis and Adam Rosales for a 8-1 lead.

The A’s defeated the Rangers 9-1.

Notes
Disabled list 
John Axford (strained right shoulder)
Chris Bassitt (right UCL surgery)
Kendall Graveman (strained right shoulder)
Sonny Gray (strained right shoulder)
Daniel Mengden (right foot surgery)
Marcus Semien (fractured scaphoid bone)
Jake Smolinski (right shoulder surgery)
Joey Wendle (strained right shoulder)

Wednesday’s attendance was 14,031.

Up Next
The A’s will open up a four-game homestand against the Seattle Mariners, starting on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. PST on NSCA, RTNW.