 pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jose Leclerc struck out three in the ninth for his third save.Joakim Soria (0-2) got one out in the eighth and was charged with four runs.Oakland starter Brett Anderson allowed three runs in six innings.Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman hit solo homers for the A's. They have 36 homers and went into Sunday second in the majors to Seattle with 38.Khris Davis, the major league leader in home runs with 10, nearly homered for the fourth straight game. His first-inning opposite-field double came about one foot short of clearing the fence.Texas starter Adrian Sampson allowed seven runs in four innings during his first start of the season after getting an extra day of rest following Saturday's rainout. Sampson moved into the rotation to replace Edinson Volquez, who's on the 60-day injured list with a right elbow sprain.Oakland took a 7-2 lead with a four-run rally in the fourth inning after Sampson retired the first two batters.Elvis Andrus was a double shy of the cycle for his ninth multihit game this season. Andrus also had his club-record fifth steal of home plate, coming on a pickoff throw to first base by Anderson.TRAINER'S ROOMAthletics: LHP Sean Manaea (February shoulder surgery) is throwing out to 120 feet.Rangers: LHP Mason Englert, the team's fourth-round pick in last June's amateur draft, had Tommy John surgery Friday. Englert was drafted out of Forney High School, about 40 miles from the Rangers' home ballpark.UP NEXTAthletics: RHP Marco Estrada (0-1, 4.87 ERA) will start Tuesday at home against Houston. Estrada allowed six runs in his previous outing after giving up six runs total in his previous three starts.Rangers: RHP Shelby Miller (0-1, 9.53 ERA) was also pushed back a day after Saturday's rainout and will start the series opener at home against the Angels on Monday. Miller pitched 5 2/3 total innings in his previous two starts. He's working on seven days of rest, allowing four runs in two innings last Sunday in a 7-2 loss to the Angels.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Athletics hope to turn up heat again vs. Rangers That's one way to cool off the Oakland Athletics' bats.Gallons of rain unleashed from the Texas sky caused Saturday's contest to be postponed, and the Athletics will look to continue their homer-hitting prowess when they visit the Texas Rangers in Sunday's finale of an abbreviated two-game series.Oakland matched the club mark of six consecutive multi-homer games when Khris Davis and Ramon Laureano each went deep during Friday's 8-6 series-opening win.The Athletics have bashed 19 homers during the stretch to raise their season count to 34.Davis is leading the way with a major league-leading 10. He has smacked five in the past three games."It's kind of just old news to us," Oakland catcher Josh Phegley told reporters of Davis' blast on Friday. "It's just like a matter of time every time he comes up, especially with how hot he's been. ... We just feel like with this park, he's where he belongs, he's right at home. We fully expect that to happen." Davis hit seven homers and drove in 19 runs in nine games at Globe Life Park last season.And while there appears to be carryover with his performance from Friday, it isn't a topic Davis wants to discuss."Ah, shoot. I don't know," Davis told reporters after Oakland's fourth straight victory. "No comment." Texas right-hander Adrian Sampson will receive the opportunity to silence Davis on Sunday. Sampson is 0-1 with a 1.86 ERA in two relief appearances this season.He allowed a single to Davis last season in their lone confrontation.Sampson is 0-5 with a 4.10 ERA in eight career appearances (five starts). He gave up three runs (two earned) and four hits in one-third inning of relief against Oakland last September.Oakland pushed scheduled Saturday starter Marco Estrada back to Tuesday due to the rainout.Left-hander Brett Anderson will stay on normal rest and be on the mound for the Athletics on Sunday. He is off to a strong start.Anderson (3-0, 2.50 ERA) has won each of his three starts and defeated the Baltimore Orioles in his last turn when he gave up two runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings.A win over Texas would allow him to equal last season's victory total. Anderson went 4-5 with a 4.48 ERA in 17 starts last year.Anderson was 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA against the Rangers last season. That was a stunning development due to his career-long struggles against Texas -- he has gone 3-4 with a 5.01 ERA in 13 career appearances (10 starts) against the Rangers.Meanwhile, the Rangers have lost five of six games and they will also be without second baseman Rougned Odor, who was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a sprained right knee.Odor was scratched prior to Friday's game after he was hurt while doing routine stretching exercises. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks."Not fun," Rangers manager Chris Woodward told reporters. "Caught us by surprise. Totally. I saw him take early (batting practice), saw him take BP, he felt great. We had a long conversation about how good he felt. At 6:45, he was scratched. Right before the game. Very frustrating." Odor is off to a slow start with a .167 average and no homers with two RBIs. He has twice slugged 30 or more homers in a season.--Field Level Media
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