Friday to Sunday hosted the A’s and Rangers series at O.co Coliseum. These two teams lead the AL West, so this was not only a series that was anticipated, but a series that turned out to have some drama on, and off the field. Let’s take a look at what happened this weekend in Oakland.
Friday’s starters were Alexi Ogamdo vs Tommy Milone, but in the back of everyone’s mind, we were reminded Nelson Cruz could have been having his last at-bat of the season at any moment. During the second inning, Cruz hit his 26th homer of the season. Twitter blew up with many PED related jokes (some better than others), and the attitude took a shift for Rangers fans when the bats became alive. Milone struggled on the mound for the A’s and allowed six runs, and nine hits in three innings. Jurickson Profar landed two RBI’s for the Rangers, went 1-1, and A.J. Pierzynski went 2-2 with three RBI’s to help the Rangers win 8-3. Cruz said he hasn’t made any decision about a possible appeal.
Saturday’s game started off as any normal game would. Jarrod Parker started on the bump for the green and gold. A’s had a strong first inning thanks to Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp, and Yoenis Cespedes. After Lowrie hit a single to run Crisp in, Cespedes hit a 389-foot homer to left, and Lowrie crossed the dish. Ian Kinsler of the Rangers had a home run, and Adrian Beltre also drove in a run for the Rangers. Eric Sogard added an insurance run thanks to a safety squeeze, that caused some controversy with Matt Garza. Garza took to twitter to make sure both Eric, and his wife Kaycee were aware he had issues with the bunt. Garza didn't manage to get the win, and lost a lot of respect in fans. He did eventually apologize for the twitter rants. Final for that game, 4-2, Oakland.
The final game was a good one, for Texas starting pitcher Derek Holland. He did not allow a runner past second base and retired 14 out of 15 batters in eight innings. Beltre had two hits and drove in a run for the Rangers, and Cruz and Mitch Moreland both homered in the game. A.J. Griffin went for six innings, allowed four runs, walked one, and struck out seven. He has allowed 28 home runs this season (leads the MLB). It was a tough game for Athletics fans to watch with Cespedes and Josh Donaldson giving the A’s the two errors. Very rare for the two players who were big on the All Star talk waves. A’s gave the W to the Rangers with a final score of 4-0.
Rangers took the series, and celebrated in a beer shower, manager Ron Washington as the winningest coach in Rangers history.