Despite knocking in five runs, Vladimir Guerrero (above) and the Rangers were unable to rally from an early deficit. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)Rangers' starter Scott Feldman gave it all he had Wednesday night, but his early struggles did his team in. The Oakland Athletics (14-14) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and the Texas Rangers (14-13) didn't hold a lead in the game for only the third time all season.
Vlad Guerrero hit a grand-slam in the third inning off A's starter Vin Mazzard, after Texas loaded the bases using some patience at the plate. Julio Borbon, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Hamilton all walked to load em' up and Guerrero's shot (his third home-run of the season) made it 5-4 Oakland, and got the Rangers right back into the game.
Unfortunately for Texas, Oakland had a Vlad of their own by the name of Ryan Sweeney. Sweeney knocked in five RBI and hit a home-run of his own, as he had Feldman's number all-game long. Sweeney hit a single in the fourth inning for his fifth RBI of the game, making it 7-4 A's.
This steep climb was simply too much for the Rangers to handle, although Feldman did retire the last 12 Oakland batters he faced - giving Texas an opening for a comeback. For the game, he gave up 10 hits and allowed seven runs in seven innings of action.
"I got out there in the beginning and was kind of erratic with my command," Feldman said. "I felt fine the whole time. It was just that my command was awful."
The Rangers made it close again after a Hamilton single in the seventh scored Andrus, making it 7-6. But that's how it would stay as Oakland retired five of the final six Texas batters.
"For us to put up runs like that and see them go to waste is very disappointing," Feldman said.
The final game of the three-game set between these two teams is tomorrow afternoon at 2:35, and can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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