A's Take Series With Comeback 3-2 Win

Texas blew a two run lead and the A's took two of three from the Rangers in Oakland. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

For the first time since the All-Star break, the Texas Rangers (64-47) have lost a series. Colby Lewis pitched six innings of one run baseball, but Darren Oliver struggled through 1-3 of an inning for his first loss of the season.

Lewis didn't exactly dominate the Oakland Athletics (56-54) however, even though he did have seven K's for the game. The Rangers' starter allowed an A's runner to at least second every inning, twice to third, but Oakland came way with only one run to show for it - a sac fly in the sixth.

Oliver came into the game to start the seventh and immediately allowed a single to the first batter and a double down the left field line by Coco Crisp that tied the game at 2-all. Oakland first baseman Landon Powell spotted Oliver his only out, moving Crisp to third on a sac bunt and Oliver's day was done. A's catcher Kurt Suzuki then hit a sac fly that scored Crisp and put the A's ahead for good at 3-2.

Crisp had quite a game, along with going 2 for 4 from the plate with the aforementioned run-scoring RBI and run scored, he also robbed Bengie Molina of a double (or likely a single with his slow ass) as he leapt up and snagged the ball off of the right-center field wall in the fourth inning. Crisp praised the Rangers and gave credit to his starting pitcher after the game.

"It's tough playing the Rangers," Crisp said. "We just jumped on the back of our pitcher and tried to contribute. We're chasing Texas so we can't get too far ahead of ourselves."

Speaking of the A's starter, baby-faced Trevor Cahill (seriously, the dude looks like he is 14) went eight innings without giving up an earned run. The two runs Texas scored came from back-to-back Oakland errors in the sixth - a bobble by shortstop Cliff Pennington and then a bad throw from Suzuki - and Cahill allowed only six hits and struck out three with no walks for the game. He's now won five-straight starts against the Rangers.

It's the second-straight month the Rangers have gotten off to a slow start. While it isn't quite as bad as July, the Rangers are 3-4 to start August with three straight series coming up against the big boys in the American League East.

Next up for the Rangers, after a Monday off-day, are the New York Yankees who come to town for a two-game series starting Tuesday night. The Yankees currently have the best record in baseball at 69-41 and the second-best road record at 32-22.

C.J. Wilson (10-5, 3.30 ERA) will get the start for Texas, while A.J. Burnett (9-9, 4.93) takes the mound for N.Y. Both pitchers are coming off less-than-stellar starts. Burnett allowed eight runs on eight hits in 4 2-3 innings in his last start on Aug. 2. While Wilson gave up four runs on six hits in only three innings in his last start Aug. 4.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

News and Notes:

• Vladimir Guerrero received a scheduled day-off as he's hitting .227 - up from .210 in July - in seven games this month. Guerrero pinch-hit in the ninth, but ended the game with a weakly-hit grounder to short.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)