Four hits and a game-breaking homer
Jeff McNeil turned in his best performance of the season on Saturday night. The Athletics infielder collected four hits and drove in three runs in an 8-3 win over the Texas Rangers in West Sacramento. Two doubles, a single and a huge home run — that is a proper line.
The key moment came in the sixth inning. Two outs, the game tied at 3-3. McNeil sent a Chase Silseth pitch 400 feet to right field. The Athletics moved in front and never looked back.
Lawrence Butler hammered the dagger an inning later with a 411-foot homer to center off Robby Ahlstrom. Butler has now gone deep in three straight games.
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A losing streak finally snapped
This one mattered in Sacramento. The Athletics had dropped eight straight at home. They had also won only three of their previous 18 games. So the California club knocked out two problems at once.
It had started well enough for the home side. In the first inning, Kumar Rocker hit Jacob Wilson with a pitch, then allowed a Tyler Soderstrom single and a walk to Zack Gelof. Bases loaded. Carlos Cortes cleared them with a double into the right-center gap. Three runs in a flash.
The bad news is worse than it looked. Wilson, the Athletics shortstop, left the game in the second inning with a bruised left hand, the direct result of Rocker’s pitch.
Texas sinks despite Burger
The Rangers needed five innings to record their first hit, an infield single from Evan Carter. Jake Burger then dragged them level in the sixth: a walk to Corey Seager, a single from Ezequiel Duran, then a 428-foot blast to left-center on a Gage Jump fastball. Burger’s 20th home run of the season.
It still was not enough. The eighth inning turned into a disaster for Texas. Tommy White opened with a pinch-hit single, Jonah Heim walked, and Henry Bolte laid down a bunt in front of the plate. Catcher Elias Diaz threw wildly to third, White scored. McNeil then added a two-run double to blow the gap out to five.
Rocker gave up three runs and four hits over five innings, but the real damage was five walks. For the Athletics, rookie Gage Jump held on for 5 and a third before Luis Medina closed it out without allowing a hit. It was a fourth straight loss for the Rangers, and their fifth in six games.
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