ARLINGTON, Texas — For the second night in a row, the A’s built a sizable lead.
This time they did a better job protecting it, polishing off a 6-3 victory Tuesday over the Rangers for their fourth win in the past five games.
They hit three homers, giving them seven in their past four games, and got an odd but ultimately effective start from Sonny Gray as they ran their post-All Star break record to 8-4.
Gray (5-9) improved his record at Globe Life Park to a perfect 6-0 in six career starts, but he had to work around a turbulent fifth inning in which he allowed two home runs and five consecutive hits at one point.
After squandering a 5-1 lead Monday and losing when Ryan Madson allowed Adrian Beltre’s walk-off homer, the A’s stashed this one away with a tag-team effort in the ninth. Lefty Marc Rzepczynski, who got the final out of the eighth, stayed in to retire leadoff batter Joey Gallo in the ninth. Then he gave way to John Axford, who closed it out for just his second save of the season.
Manager Bob Melvin said before the game that Madson would remain his closer whenever he’s at full strength. Melvin also mentioned that a couple relievers would likely be unavailable Tuesday night, though he didn’t mention who they were.
Tuesday's game was delayed roughly an hour due to rain.
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Starting pitching report: A glance at Gray’s pitching line would suggest a solid, and rather ho-hum, outing. It was anything but. He went six innings, gave up five hits and three runs, walked two and struck out a season-high eight. He sandwiched five excellent innings around one that nearly became a full-blown disaster. Taking a 5-0 lead to the mound in the bottom of the fifth, he allowed five consecutive hits to open the innings, including two home runs and a double, as the Rangers cut the A’s lead to 5-3. That streak of trouble prompted a mound visit from Melvin for what looked to be either a spirited pep talk or a stern wake-up call. Outside of that inning, Gray dominated the Rangers, allowing no hits in the other five frames and allowing little in the way of solid contact.
But the 28 pitches he needed to get through the fifth ensured that he wouldn’t pitch deep in this one. He was at the 100-pitch mark after six innings, and Melvin went to the bullpen.
Bullpen report: Liam Hendriks continued his recent stellar work, striking out the side in the seventh and going 1 2/3 innings overall.
At the plate: The A’s struggled to score runs for much of the last homestand even as they were stashing away victories. But they’ve scored 12 over the first two games of this series. On Tuesday they rode the strength of three home runs in building their five-run lead. Coco Crisp, who sat the previous two games with neck soreness, led off the fourth with a homer into the second deck in right off Nick Martinez (2-2). After Jed Lowrie singled, Josh Reddick lined a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall to make it 3-0. Reddick added a run-scoring single in the fifth, an inning that began with Marcus Semien’s 21st homer, a solo shot to center.
In the field: Reddick closed the game with a diving catch in right field and shortstop Marcus Semien added an excellent diving stop in the eighth to get an important force-out at second.
Attendance: A crowd of 25,272 was on hand.
Up next: Wednesday’s series finale sets up as an entertaining matchup between A’s rookie Sean Manaea (3-5, 4.61), who has been sharp over his past five starts, and the Rangers’ Yu Darvish (2-2, 3.12).
