Khris Davis, who went deep in each game against the Mariners over the weekend, is hitting.419 with seven home runs and 19 RBIs against the Rangers this season, including a two-homer, three-RBI effort in their last meeting.TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, CSN California (Oakland), FSN Southwest (Texas) PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics LH Ross Detwiler (1-0, 2.13 ERA) vs. Rangers LH Martin Perez (7-8, 4.22) Detwiler dazzled in his first big-league turn since May 14, 2015, in a win over Baltimore on Wednesday, holding the Orioles to six hits without a walk in a career-high eight scoreless frames. The A’s have made some tough trades over the last couple of seasons and it must sting even more to see some of their former pieces enjoying so much success but that is the nature of the beast with a team like Oakland that is still operating under the Moneyball mentality through Billy Beane. He’s one of 14 A’s now on the disabled list.
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The bats: 3B Adrian Beltre’s fifth-inning grand slam was the 10 of his career, but just his second as a Ranger.
Notable: Beltre hit his 10th career grand slam and second with the Rangers. “I was getting in bad counts and that’s what ended up hurting me quite a bit”. From the time he got here up until that point he was making pitches. “Really lost command – fastball, curveball”.
The AL West-leading Rangers were coming off consecutive shutout losses at home to Detroit and were an out shy of 25 straight scoreless innings when Elvis Andrus lined a single to right in the fourth.
Things fell apart for Detwiler with one out in the fifth.
– Out again: The Rangers will apparently have to do without OF Shin-Soo Choo for the remainder of the regular season.
Carlos Beltran, Nomar Mazara and Ian Desmond will likely start every day in the outfield with Choo injured. He struck out three and walked four.
“Somebody you played with a year ago, somebody that’s your friend, you hate for that pitch to get away from you”, said Detwiler, who opened 2015 in the Texas rotation but was let go after starting 0-5. It will be Choo’s fourth trip to the DL this season. The lefty gave up an unearned run in the first and a solo homer in the second but nothing else in his seven-inning outing.
Texas could have had a bigger fourth inning if not for a leaping catch by second baseman Tyler Ladendorf on Rougned Odor’s line drive with two runners on base. Healy and Danny Valencia each collected a pair of hits for the A’s.NOTES: With their three-game series against first-place Texas, Oakland will leave Arlington having played a division leader 15 times in a 22-game stretch.
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– Doubling up: LHP Martin Perez set the Rangers single-season record for double play grounders on Monday when he got Brett Eibner to bounce into one to end the fourth inning. The Rangers have won all five games.RHP Sam Dyson has needed a total of just 12 pitches to complete his last two saves.
