Rangers 4, Athletics 1: Elvis Andrus had two hits and scored twice while Jerome Williams turned in six strong innings in his Texas debut as the host Rangers took the opener of a three-game series from American League West leader Oakland.
Shin-Soo Choo added two hits while Jim Adduci had a double and an RBI for the Rangers, who won for only the sixth time in their last 33 games. Williams (2-4) was effective, allowing one run and five hits while striking out four, and newly-installed closer Neftali Feliz worked out of trouble in a scoreless ninth for his first save since 2011.
Jason Hammel (8-8) gave up four runs (three earned) in 5 2/3 innings to lose his third straight start since Oakland acquired him from the Chicago Cubs. Stephen Vogt had a pair of hits and Brandon Moss extended his hitting streak to a career-high nine games for the Athletics.
J.P. Arencibia put the Rangers on top with an RBI single in the second and Alex Rios added a run-scoring single an inning later. Yoenis Cespedes smacked an RBI single in the sixth to cut the margin in half, but John Jaso was cut down at third on the play and Moss flew out to end the inning.
Texas tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on Adrian Beltre's RBI single and Adduci's sacrifice fly, making things slightly less stressful for Feliz in his first save opportunity since taking over the role when Joakim Soria was traded to Detroit on Wednesday. Feliz gave up a single to Moss and walked Josh Donaldson to bring the tying run to the plate before retiring Vogt and Derek Norris to seal it.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Hammel has not made it through six innings in any of his three starts since joining the Athletics. … The Rangers improved to 7-7 in series openers since June 6, but they are 4-25 in all other games over that stretch. … Donaldson went 0-for-3, snapping an overall six-game hitting streak and a 14-game streak against Texas.
Oakland | Texas | |
Jason Hammel | Player | Jerome Williams |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.2 | IP | 6.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 4 |
7 | Hits | 5 |
4.76 | ERA | 1.50 |
Oakland | Texas | |
Stephen Vogt | Player | Elvis Andrus |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 4 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |