Andrus, Odor homer to lead Rangers past Athletics

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[September 24, 2015]  OAKLAND, Calif. -- Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus picked a good time to hit the first three-run homer of his career.

Andrus snapped a 1-1 tie with his career-high seventh home run of the season in the fourth inning, and the Rangers rolled to a 10-3 victory against the Oakland A's on Wednesday night at the O.co Coliseum.

Third baseman Adrian Beltre hit three-run homer in the fifth, and second baseman Rougned Odor added a solo shot in the ninth.

Andrus also had a double and has 41 extra-base hits for the season, two off his career high.

"I feel I'm driving the ball," Andrus said. "If I get my pitch I know I can drive it."

The surging Rangers increased their lead in the American League West to three games over Houston, which lost 6-5 to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday afternoon.

"We can't let up," said Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis, who won his third straight start. "We were three up with three to play in 2012."

The A's roared back to win the West that year. Texas settled for a wild-card spot and lost 5-1 to Baltimore.

"We can't let that happen again," Lewis said. "We have to keep on the gas pedal."

Lewis (17-8) gave up two runs on five hits over six innings and improved to 3-0 against the A's this season. In his previous start against Oakland, he had a perfect game through seven innings but gave up a leadoff double to third baseman Danny Valencia in the eighth and settled for a 4-0 shutout on Sept. 11.

Beltre hit his 16th home run of the season off A's left-hander Felix Doubront. The home run was Beltre's first since Sept. 13, when he hit a three-run shot and a two-run blast off Doubront in a 12-4 win at Globe Life Park.

Doubront (3-3) gave up a career-high-tying seven runs on eight hits, including two homers, over 4 2/3 innings Wednesday. He's 0-6 with a 12.83 ERA in nine career appearances against Texas.

He gave up a career-high-tying seven runs and a career-high three home runs in that 12-4 loss.

"We always feel good against him," Andrus said. "He's not an easy guy to hit, the angle that he throws. But in Texas we feel really good every time he pitches. For sure we carried that momentum to today's game."

Doubront has gone 0-2 in his past three starts, allowing 17 runs.

"For the most part the cutter's his pitch, and he just hadn't been getting it in like he normally does," A's manager Bob Melvin said.

A's right fielder Josh Reddick hit his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot off Lewis in the sixth, but he also made two errors.

"You don't see very often a one-error night let alone a two-error night," Melvin said of Reddick. "There are times in your career that's going to happen but he went up his next at-bat and tried to get a good solid at-bat and hit the ball out of the ballpark. Twenty's a nice round number."

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Second baseman Eric Sogard hit a solo shot in the seventh off left-hander Sam Freeman, snapping his career-high homerless streaks of 457 at-bats and 141 games. The home run was Sogard's first since Aug. 6, 2014.

The A's took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Second baseman Brett Lawrie had a leadoff walk, moved to second on Sogard's single and scored when catcher Carson Blair grounded a single to left.

Texas responded with four runs in the fourth inning. Beltre hit an infield single with one out and moved to second when designated hitter Prince Fielder lined a single to right, ending his 0-for-20 drought.

First baseman Mitch Moreland singled to right, driving in Beltre, and Fielder took third on Reddick's error.

Andrus lined Doubront's 1-0 changeup over the left-center-field fence, increasing the Rangers' lead to 4-1.

"That kind of opened it up for us," Lewis said. "I was able to go out there and get real comfortable, pound the fast ball and get ahead of guys."

The Rangers added three runs in the fifth on Beltre's home run. Center fielder Delino DeShields hit a leadoff double and went to third on Reddick's second error of the game. Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo walked, and Beltre crushed Doubront's first-pitch fastball high and deep over the left-field fence.

NOTES: Rangers OF Josh Hamilton (sore left knee) ran the bases and faced live pitching before Wednesday's game. Hamilton, who had surgery Sept. 11, hasn't started a game or played in the field since Aug. 15. He pinch-hit Friday and Sunday. ... A's C/1B Stephen Vogt started at first base. It marked his first appearance in the field since Sept. 6 when he took a hard foul tip off his protective cup and sustained an injury that required a trip to the hospital. Vogt started at designated hitter Sunday at Houston and pinch-hit Tuesday against the Rangers. He is expected to resume catching during the Athletics' three-game series against San Francisco, which begins Friday. ... Rangers LF/1B Mike Napoli, who made his first seven career starts in left field over the previous nine games, was out of the lineup. Drew Stubbs, a more skilled defensive outfielder, started in left.

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