|
 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."
[to top of second column] |
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.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
