You may have heard this quite a bit so far this season, but the Oakland A’s just won another series, taking two of three from the Texas Rangers at home.  Wednesday’s win put the Athletics at 44-28 on the season, good enough for the best record in MLB right now. 

Here is a look at how the A’s were able to win yet another series against one of its divisional rivals:

Game 1 final score: Rangers 14, Athletics 6

The A’s and Rangers opened up the three game series with an offensive explosion, combining for 22 runs on 31 hits.  A’s SP Drew Pomeranz had a rough outing giving up 8 runs (7 earned) in under 4 IP’s.  The A’s bullpen didn’t fare much better throughout the remainder of the game. 

After striking first in the bottom of the 1st inning for two runs, Pomeranz gave the lead up immediately in the top of the 2nd.  It was in the 4th inning that the Rangers started to pull away, scoring 6 runs in the inning and tacking on 2 in the 5th and 1 more in the 6th.  The A’s tried to make it a game by scoring 4 runs in the 6th inning but the bullpen couldn’t keep the game close in the top of the 8th and 9th innings. 

Game 2 final score: Athletics 10, Rangers 6

The offense continued to perform on Tuesday with the A’s putting up at least one run in six of the eight innings they came to the plate, continuing their domination against Yu Darvish.  Texas scored in the top of the 1st inning on a RBI single from Adrian Beltre, but it was largely all Oakland from that point on. 

The A’s offense was led by their three-headed monster of catchers.  John Jaso went 2-3 before being replaced by Derek Norris, who went 2-2 with 5 RBI’s.  Stephen Vogt went 3-3 in the game with 2 RBI’s for himself.  Despite running into some trouble, Tommy Milone was able to collect the “W” to move his record to 5-3 on the season. 

Game 3 final score: Athletics 4, Rangers 2

The A’s jumped on Nick Tepesch in the 3rd inning when Craig Gentry scored easily from first base on a John Jaso double.  Jaso scored several batters later on a Josh Donaldson single to give the A’s a 2-0 lead.  Sonny Gray ran into trouble in the 5th inning when Shin Soo Chin singled to drive in two runs and tie the game.  Outside of the 5th inning, Gray was solid if not spectacular throwing 100 pitches in 7 innings, while striking out 7.  He retired the first eight batters he faced, exorcising some of his 1st inning demons that have been on display over the past month. 

The Rangers couldn’t get the shutdown inning they needed in the bottom of the 5th as Oakland came right back and put two more runs on the board with a Brandon Moss RBI double and the red-hot Stephen Vogt hitting a sacrifice fly.  The 4-2 lead was all that was needed for Gray and the A’s bullpen. 

What’s Next?

The Boston Red Sox come into Oakland for a four game series starting Thursday.  A lot of movement in the pitching rotations relative to what was available in the Sunday Weekly Preview.  The A’s will send out Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez, newly acquired Brad Mills and Tommy Milone for the four game series.  The Red Sox will counter with Jake Peavy, Felix Doubront, Rubby De La Rosa, and Jon Lester, respectively.