A’s falter late, lose to Rangers 3-2

Tough way to lose

Oakland dropped the second game of the series with their division rivals, falling in walkoff fashion to the Texas Rangers in the middle game of this three-game series.

Oakland starting pitcher Joey Estes was on the mound for game two of the series against the Rangers this evening. On a roll recently with a string of solid starts, Estes kept it up tonight against the reigning champions. The only damage done against Oakland’s young righty was a 2-run shot in the second off the bat of former A’s prospect Jonah Heim, who took a hanger into right to give Texas the early 2-0 lead. Not the best start to the game but Estes locked in after that. Over the rest of his start Estes kept the Rangers in check, allowing just four more hits but no major damage. It was another quality start from Oakland’s prized young right-hander and another promising sign about the team’s future with him in the starting rotation.

Bats quiet, until…

Our Athletics meanwhile took a bit of time to get to work against Texas left-hander Cody Bradford. He’s been on his own roll recently and he also kept it up today, holding down the Green & Gold for the first three innings. Breakthrough finally came in the top of the fourth via ANTOTHER LAWRENCE BUTLER HOME RUN!!!

That’s #20 for Butler on the year in what has been an absolutely fantastic stretch for the young outfielder. One gets chills down the back when you imagine him with a full season as a regular leadoff hitter.

A couple innings later Butler was back in on the action. This time a leadoff double put him in scoring position for DH Brent Rooker, who promptly brought in his teammate with his own double that tied this game:

With a brand new ballgame it would depend on the bullpens to get through today’s contest. Estes finished his day off after six full innings and was followed by rookie righty Grant Holman who pitched a scoreless seventh. Fellow rookie Tyler Ferguson followed him and had a scoreless eighth but the wheels came off quickly in the bottom of the ninth. A HBP, single and walk loaded the bases and another hit gave Texas the walk-off, evening the series and sending the A’s back to their hotel with a loss.

On the bright side of things, Estes continued his strong second half with another quality outing, holding down the defending World Series Champions and keeping his team in the game. Two of Oakland’s biggest stars, Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker, provided most of the offense and continue to give hope towards next year.

Oakland and Texas wrap up the series tomorrow morning with Mitch Spence on the mound for the good guys. As of this posting we don’t yet know who Texas will go with but it should be coming soon. Stay tuned!