Oakland, CA (Sports Network) – Home runs by Nelson Cruz, Michael Young, and Mike Napoli helped lead the Rangers to an 11-2 rout of the Athletics to split the first two of a four-game series. Colby Lewis (2-3) allowed two runs and scattered six hits and one walk through eight innings as Texas snapped a two-game slide.
Brett Anderson (2-2) was beat up for seven runs on nine hits in five innings of work. He walked four and struck out three for Oakland, which has lost three of five. Kurt Suzuki hit a solo home run in the second and Josh Willingham led off the fourth with a homer to account for two runs.
Adrian Beltre doubled to score Elvis Andrus in the first after Andrus walked, moved to second on a Young groundout, and stole third. Young’s two-run shot to left field in the third made the score 3-1. Young and Beltre led off the fifth with singles and then Cruz hammered a low and inside fastball over the left field wall that curved around the foul pole. Napoli followed with a bomb to center field to make the score 7-2 in favor of Texas.
Ian Kinsler hit a double in the eighth to plate David Murphy and give the Rangers their eighth run. Yorvit Torrealba’s two-run double with the bases loaded and Julio Borbon’s RBI single in the ninth completed the rout.
The Rangers are now 7-10 in their last 17 games after opening the season 9-1…Texas has 25 hits over the last two games against Oakland…Lewis threw 71 of his 109 pitches for strikes.