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Athletics muscle up to beat Rangers in first game of doubleheader

Jerry McDonald, Bay Area News Group on

Published in Baseball

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Athletics snapped a three-game losing streak by utilizing extra-base power and deploying closer Mason Miller with a five-run lead in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at the Coliseum.

Shea Langeliers drove in five runs with a homer, triple and double, and Miller spun the last two scoreless innings to preserve a 9-4 win against the Texas Rangers.

The Athletics, who also got home runs from Brett Harris (his third) and Brent Rooker (his ninth), improved to 18-20. Oakland had eight extra-base hits in all.

Winning pitcher J.P. Sears (3-2) was lifted by manager Mark Kotsay with a one-run lead and two outs in the sixth after giving up a single to Andrew Knizner. He gave up seven hits and four earned runs with a walk and three strikeouts. Sears threw 88 pitches, 56 of which were strikes.

“It was one of the grittier ones, one of those days you have to go in and feel OK with your body,” Sears said between games. “You hope that those are the days that the offense played like it did today. We had a lot of good defense today and were swinging the bats really well on our side.”

Miller, who was warming up to come in with a 6-4 lead, lost a save opportunity when Rooker hit a three-run home run, but he came on to finish off Texas after not having pitched since May 1 in Pittsburgh.

 

Austin Adams pitched 1 1/3 innings as the bridge to Miller. Miller retired the side in order in both innings with four strikeouts, getting Marcus Semien on a grounder to short to end it. He has struck out 33 of his 60 batters faced this year.

It was Miller’s third outing of two innings this season. He threw 32 pitches — the second-most he’s had in an outing — and 24 strikes. His fielding independent pitching (FIP) remains an impossibly low -0.16.

Texas starter Michael Lorenzen (2-2) departed with a 6-4 deficit after six innings, giving up six earned runs with two walks and six strikeouts. The Rangers fell to 21-17. Cole Winn came on in the seventh, and after hitting Abraham Toro with a pitch and walking J.J. Bleday, served up a three-run home run to Rooker to put the Athletics up 9-4.

Langeliers’ fifth RBI — and seventh extra-base hit for the A’s — came on a triple in the sixth that brought in J.D. Davis, who had walked. However, Langeliers was stranded at third base when Max Schuemann grounded to short with the infield in, Esteury Ruiz struck out looking and Harris flied to left.

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