Two days after coughing up a five-run lead, the Texas Rangers scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to finish erasing their own five-run deficit and defeat the Oakland Athletics 8-7 on Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas.
Rangers pinch hitter Danny Santana, in his first at-bat of the season, tied the game at 7-7 with a two-run triple to deep right off A's reliever Joakim Soria (0-2) in the bottom of the eighth. He then scored the winning run on Delino DeShields' bunt single.
Steven Piscotty and Matt Chapman went deep as Oakland set a franchise mark with its seventh consecutive multi-homer game.
Texas started the comeback from a 7-2 deficit with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings. Shortstop Elvis Andrus hit his third home run of the season in the fifth and ran his batting average to .414 by going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He stole home in the first inning, the fifth time in his career he's done that, a franchise record and most among active major league players.
The Rangers and Athletics ended their first series of the season with a win apiece. Oakland rallied from a 6-1 deficit on Friday, and Saturday's game was rained out.
The A's looked to be headed to a fifth consecutive victory behind starter Brett Anderson, who allowed three runs (two earned) on just two hits through six innings to go with three strikeouts. He had some hard luck early with two A's errors, two walks and two hit batters, but he bounced back nicely and appeared headed for a fourth consecutive victory before the bullpen gave up the lead.
Rangers starter Adrian Sampson lasted just four innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits and two walks. He struck out four. Four Texas relievers shut down the Oakland offense over the final five innings. They allowed two hits and struck out six.
Closer Jose Leclerc notched his third save. After a couple of rough outings, Leclerc surrendered a one-out single in the ninth, but then fanned Marcus Semien, and Chapman to strike out the side.
Left-hander Jeffrey Springs (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for Texas.
Semien and Chapman both did damage earlier in the game. Semien went 3-for-5 with a two-run double in the A's four-run fourth for the 7-2 lead.
Piscotty's second-inning homer tied the game at 2-2 after Texas opened the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Chapman hit a solo homer in the third to give Oakland a 3-2 lead.
--Field Level Media
Oakland | Texas | |
Brett Anderson | Player | Adrian Sampson |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.0 | IP | 4.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 4 |
2 | Hits | 8 |
3.00 | ERA | 15.75 |
Oakland | Texas | |
Marcus Semien | Player | Elvis Andrus |
3 | Hits | 3 |
2 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 1 |
4 | TB | 8 |
.600 | Avg | .750 |