Texas Rangers vs Oakland Athletics Box Score on Sep 24, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 24, 2017

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Khris Davis hit his 41st home run of the season, Jharel Cotton allowed one hit over five shutout innings, and the Oakland Athletics pushed the Texas Rangers to the brink of elimination in the wild-card playoff race with an 8-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum.

The Rangers fell 5 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins, 10-4 winners against Detroit, for the second wild-card spot in the American League. The Rangers wild-card elimination number is two.

The A's won their season-high seventh straight game overall and defeated Texas at the Coliseum for the eighth straight time, matching their franchise high. The A's completed their second consecutive three-game sweep of Texas in Oakland and finished 8-1 against the Rangers at home this season.

Matt Chapman doubled twice and drove in two runs for the A's. Josh Phegley went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and one RBI.

Nomar Mazara hit his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot with one out in the seventh inning, ending the Rangers' season-long 21-inning scoreless streak. The run was their first since scoring once in the third inning Friday in a 4-1 loss to Oakland.

Cotton (9-10) extended his career-high winning streak to four games and beat Texas for the second time during that stretch. Cotton struck out five, walked one and threw 77 pitches. He was scratched from his previous scheduled start Sept. 18 at Detroit after straining his groin while warming up before the game.

The only hit Cotton allowed came with two outs in the first inning when Elvis Andrus grounded a single to center.

Rangers left-hander Martin Perez (12-12) allowed five runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings with two strikeouts and a season-high matching four walks. After winning seven straight games, Perez has gone 0-2 in his past three starts.

The A's snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with five runs on five hits, including Davis' two-run shot.

Phegley led off with a single to center and moved to second on Jake Smolinski's single to left. Chapman laced a double to left-center, bringing Phegley home to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. Jed Lowrie followed with a two-run single down the right-field line, making it 3-0.

That brought Davis to the plate, and he crushed Perez' 1-1 changeup high and deep over the center-field fence.

The A's extended their lead to 7-0 in the sixth. Mark Canha lined a leadoff single to left and continued to second on an error by Mazara. Phegley lined an RBI double down the left-field line, and Chapman launched a run scoring double off the left-field fence with two outs.

NOTES: Rangers manager Jeff Banister missed his second straight game and remained in Clear Lake, Texas, with his mother, Verda, who is experiencing complications from recent surgery. Bench coach Steve Buechele served again as acting manager. "When he feels it's time to come back, he'll come back," Buechele said before the game. ... A's C Bruce Maxwell, who on Saturday became the first major league player to kneel for the national anthem, kneeled again Sunday during the anthem, continuing his protest against racial injustice. ... A's OF/INF Chad Pinder is in the concussion protocol and might miss the rest of the season, manager Bob Melvin said. Pinder was injured Friday night against Texas when he slammed into the right-center field wall trying to catch Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre's drive, which went for a double. ... Oakland OF Jake Smolinski, who missed the first 133 games this season after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder, made his first start Sunday, in center field.