Texas @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 11, 2011 ) Oakland 1, Texas 8

THE STORY: The Texas Rangers are closing in on the American League West title and would like to wrap it up before they face the Los Angeles Angels next week in their season-ending series. Texas can take another step in that direction when it opens a three-game series against the host Oakland Athletics on Tuesday. Texas leads the West by five games and has a magic number of five with nine games remaining. The Rangers were idle Monday while the Los Angeles Angels lost to Toronto 3-2 in 10 innings. Texas has won six of its last seven games while Oakland just split a four-game series with AL Central champion Detroit.

TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Texas), CS California (Oakland)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Tigers LH Derek Holland (14-5, 4.02 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Rich Harden (4-3, 4.76).

Holland has won eight of his last nine decisions. He beat Cleveland in his last outing when he allowed one run and six hits in seven innings. Holland is 3-0 with a 1.65 ERA over his last four starts. He is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two starts against Oakland this season and is 2-1 with a 2.03 ERA in eight career appearances (five starts). Kurt Suzuki is batting .333 with two homers in 15 career at-bats against Holland. Harden has gone four straight outings without winning since beating Toronto on Aug. 19. He lost to the Los Angeles Angels in his last start when he gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. Harden is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two 2011 starts against Texas, the team he pitched for last season. He has a 5-3 career mark and 4.78 ERA in 14 career appearances (13 starts) against the Rangers. Adrian Beltre is just 2-for-16 against Harden.

ABOUT THE ATHLETICS (69-84): Oakland recently lost two of three games at Texas and allowed 28 runs. The current series represents the final three home games of the season for the Athletics, who are 42-36 at home. Oakland is 18-24 in one-run games, matching the franchise’s most losses in such contests since going 20-27 in 1987. Slumping Hideki Matsui is 1-for-19 through the first seven games of Oakland’s 10-game homestand. Outfielder David DeJesus is batting .168 against left-handed pitching but is 2-for-5 in his career against Holland.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (88-65): Beltre has been the hottest of all the Texas hitters with seven homers and 13 RBIs over his last nine games. Beltre has 27 homers and hit a two-run shot off former teammate Felix Hernandez in Sunday’s victory over Seattle. Beltre hit three homers in the recent three-game series against Oakland. Michael Young needs two hits for the sixth 200-hit campaign of his career and his first since 2007. Young is hitting .333 and in the hunt for the AL batting crown. Young is one RBI shy of the career-best 103 he had in 2006. Elvis Andrus has four multi-hit games during his 12-game hitting streak. Neftali Feliz is 11-for-11 in save opportunities against AL West teams this season. The Rangers, should they win the West, also trail the Detroit Tigers by one game for homefield advantage in the American League Division Series.

FINAL PITCH: Matt Harrison recorded the victory Sunday to make Texas the first AL team since 1977 to have five pitchers with 13 or more victories. C.J. Wilson has a team-leading 16, Holland has 14, and Alexi Ogando and Colby Lewis have 13 apiece.