The Oakland Athletics suffered a gut-wrenching loss Saturday evening as the Texas Rangers won 6-5 thanks to a Josh Hamilton walk-off home run. The A’s dropped their third straight and fell 11 back of the Texas Rangers with one more game before the All Star break. It was Andrew Bailey’s second blown save of the season and the first home run he’s allowed in 2011.
The A’s jumped on top early as they tagged Colby Lewis for four runs in the top of the second inning. Josh Willingham led off the inning with a solo home run and the A’s piled up hits the rest of the inning. After David DeJesus walked, Landon Powell singled, Cliff Pennington singled, Jemile Weeks singled, and Coco Crisp added a walk. Hideki Matsui capped the scoring by reaching base with the bases loaded courtesy of catcher’s interference.
The Rangers got back one run in the bottom of the second but the A’s matched that in the top of the fifth. Brandon McCarthy pitched well through the first four innings but then struggled in the fifth. The Rangers put men on first and second courtesy of two infield singles. Ian Kinsler then doubled in in Yorvit Torrealba, sending Endy Chavez to third. Elvis Andrus drove in Chavez with a sacrifice fly and Josh Hamilton brought in Kinsler with a ground out to second. Adrian Beltre evened the game at five with a solo home run to right.
The A’s recaptured the lead on a Coco Crisp solo home run and looked to their bullpen to bring it home. Joey Devine battled through a tough seventh inning and Grant Balfour locked down the eighth to bring on Andrew Bailey in the ninth. Endy Chavez and Ian Kinsler were easily dispatched, bringing up Elvis Andrus with two outs. Andrus hit a roller to the right side that saw Conor Jackson range to far to his right. Jemile Weeks got the ball but as Jackson hustled back to first he couldn’t get a glove on the throw and Andrus was safe. Hamilton then proceeded to hit a two-run walkoff home run on a 2-0 count to end the game.
The A’s and Rangers will wrap up their series Sunday afternoon at 12:05pm on CSN California. Trevor Cahill will face Matt Harrison as the A’s look to salvage one game in Texas.