Oakland Athletics vs Texas Rangers Box Score on Oct 01, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Oct 1, 2017

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Oakland right-hander Daniel Mengden pitched seven shutout innings as the Athletics closed the season with 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

Mengden (3-2) didn't allow a baserunner until Adrian Beltre led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to center. Mengden gave up just four singles. He also set a new season high with eight strikeouts and walked just one. He went 3-1 over his final four starts with a 1.20 ERA.

The A's won eight of their final 10 games against Texas, which closed the season by losing eight of its last 10 games overall. The Rangers (78-84) finished with their second losing season since 2008. Oakland also won 17 of its final 24 games on the season.

Oakland gave Mengden all the runs he'd need in the third inning when it used four-consecutive hits to score three runs off Texas starter Cole Hamels (11-6).

Catcher Dustin Garneau got the hit parade started with a single and Marcus Semien followed with another single. Matt Chapman then doubled to left to put the A's up 1-0. Jed Lowrie followed with another double to left, this one scoring both Semien and Chapman to push the lead to 3-0.

Hamels pitched just three innings and was charged with three runs on five hits. He struck out five, including the next three batters after the Lowrie double.

The A's tacked on a run off reliever Yohander Mendez with an RBI single rom Franklin Barreto in the sixth inning. Khris Davis blasted a solo homer to left-center in the eighth to give him 43 on the year, a career high. Blake Treinen pitched a perfect frame for his 16th save.

Davis had two of the 10 Oakland hits and all nine starters had at least one. Texas, which finished with eight hits, avoided a shutout on a two-run single from Nomar Mazara in the eighth inning.

NOTES: Texas SS Elvis Andrus batted leadoff for the Rangers for the first time and hit in every spot in the batting order this season. He's the first Texas player to do that since Billy Sample in 1983. ... The Rangers final attendance for 2017 was 2,507,760, which is down more than 200,000 from their 2016 total. ... The A's have increased their win total in each of the last three years. Oakland won 68 games in 2015, 69 in 2016 and 75 this year.