Graveman’s night turned in the seventh, during which the Rangers broke up his flawless game and no-hitter, ended his shutout bid and commanded a 3-0 lead, all in a four-batter sequence that was capped by Adrian Beltre’s two-run homer.
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In St. Petersburg, Florida, David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the first to set the RBIs record for a player in his final season, and the AL East-leading Boston beat Tampa Bay for its ninth straight win.
While there is still a few years left for things to play out, the Rangers are putting themselves on the short list for best AL team of the decade with five playoff appearances, four division titles and two World Series appearances since 2010.
“It’s just the first step, it’s just the first step”, Beltre said. “It’s just the first step”. We took the first step to win the division and get into the playoffs. They also would win the seedings tiebreaker if all three teams end up with identical records.
Hamels struck out seven and allowed no walks in seven innings of six-hit ball in what for him was an important bounce-back after allowing 21 earned runs in 18 innings over his previous four starts. He won for the first time since August 25 against Cleveland. He finished allowing six hits and walking two in his 7 innings of work. He was ideal through six innings and had thrown just 59 pitches, and he couldn’t help but be aware of what was happening. You know what else is 2016 Rangers?
Carlos Gomez broke up the ideal game with a single, then Adrian Beltre hit a home run later in the inning to seal the deal.
Graveman struck out three and walked none in losing his third consecutive game.
Beltre unloaded on what he believes was Graveman’s first slider of the game. “The only issue with a sinkerballer like that is a ground ball finds a whole, and unfortunately one did”.
But then there’s Adrian Beltre.
Carlos Gomez broke up Graveman’s flawless game bid in the top of the seventh inning, leading off with an infield single. Ian Desmond followed with a single, sending Gomez to third, and Carlos Beltran’s high chopper allowed Gomez to score the game’s first run.
Adrian Beltre smashed a two-run homer in a three-run seventh inning as the Rangers secured their seventh divisional title and became the first AL team to guarantee a play-off spot.
“It turned quick”, Graveman said. “But first we have to get there”. We got lucky. We got a couple of balls that found some holes. “We scored just when we needed to win the ballgame”.
“I was not (expecting) that pitch, but he left it right over the plate”.
“I thought he pitched really well”, A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
The Rangers are getting pretty good at this division title thing.
It was a tough swing for Graveman, who was dialed in with his sinker and said his location was the best it’s been in about a year.
“It feels really good”.
John Axford and Chris Smith each recorded ideal innings of relief, while Sam Dyson converted save No. 36 of the season.
The A’s came close to snapping a scoreless tie in the second inning.
After a Renato Nunez two-out single, Chad Pinder appeared to put the A’s on the board with double into the right-center field gap. Third base coach Ron Washington aggressively waved Nunez around third but the rookie was easily thrown out at the plate.
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Pinder doubled again in the fifth, this time down the left-field line with one out, but Hamels retired the next two batters, ending the threat. “So just kind of taking it for what it’s worth and going on to the next stage”.
