Texas RangersTexas Rangers vs. Oakland AthleticsOakland Athletics Pick Center

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Rangers try to keep winning at AthleticsFLMVeteran Lance Lynn will attempt to pull the visiting Texas Rangers another game closer to the Oakland Athletics when the American League West clubs meet for a second time Friday night.Getting a grand slam from Danny Santana, the Rangers (52-51) overpowered the A's (58-46) in the opener 11-3, outhitting the hosts 13-3 in the process.It was just the Rangers' fourth win in 10 head-to-heads with the A's this season, and second win in their last 11 games overall.Lynn (12-6, 3.93 ERA) had contributed to the Rangers' recent slump with back-to-back poor efforts against Arizona and Houston, bombed for 15 hits and nine runs in 13 innings.The right-hander had never faced the A's in the first seven years of his career until dueling with them twice this season, going 0-1 with a 9.64 ERA in a pair of Rangers losses. Marcus Semien and Matt Chapman hit homers off the 32-year-old.Lynn would benefit from the type of offensive performance the Rangers put on Thursday. Four different guys had two or more hits, while five scored two or more runs.Texas didn't get an opportunity to show off its (sort of) new weapon, outfielder Willie Calhoun, who was promoted from Triple-A on Thursday to fill the roster spot created when Joey Gallo was placed on the injured list.Gallo is expected to miss more than a month following surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his right hand.Calhoun, a native of the Oakland suburb of Vallejo, was demoted earlier this month despite hitting .277 with the big club. He had two hits and drove in a run in his final game, against Houston, before getting the bad news."It has been talked about ever since I got over here," Calhoun noted to reporters about his inability to retain a major league gig in his first three seasons. "Hopefully this will be the last time talking about going back (to Triple-A). I have been getting those questions the past two years, so hopefully I can put that behind me. Hopefully this is the time I can just stay up." If Calhoun gets a start Friday, it would come against A's right-hander Daniel Mengden (5-1, 4.65), who takes a seven-game unbeaten streak into the contest.The 26-year-old has gone 4-0 in his last five starts. He's 1-3 with a 4.61 ERA in five career starts against Texas.Brett Anderson's poor start in the series opener came on a day when the A's got good news regarding the future of their starting staff in a report on rehabbing left-hander Sean Manaea's 76-pitch outing at Triple-A on Wednesday night.A's manager Bob Melvin tempered his enthusiasm before Thursday's game, noting that Manaea would have at least two more tests to pass at Triple-A before A's fans might see him back in Oakland."Who knows what the trade deadline will bring, but Sean was the leader of the rotation last year," Melvin told reporters about the club's starting staff going forward. "Sometimes you can get incrementally better from within and not necessarily just have to make a trade." --Field Level Media

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