Game 38 Recap: Oakland A's Stymied by Yu Darvish and Fall 4-1

For the second straight game, the Oakland A's offense was stymied by great starting pitching, and fell in Arlington to the Texas Rangers by a score of 4-1. Japanese sensation Yu Darvish improved to 6-1 with the win while the A's Tom Milone fell to 5-3 with loss.

For his part, Milone was not bad. He went seven innings and allowed four runs on nine hits and a walk with four strikeouts. 

The damage was all done in the fourth inning for Oakland. After Josh Hamilton reached on an infield single, Adrian Beltre hit an opposite field, two-run home run to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Nelson Cruz followed with another infield single and after a walk and passed ball, Craig Gentry hit an infield single to third that Josh Donaldson could not play in time. Elvis Andrus concluded the scoring with a single to left, scoring Texas catcher Yorvit Torrealba. The A's lone run was scored in the first inning on a Josh Reddick sacrifice fly. 

Good: Jemile Weeks. His average continues to rise (now .210) as Weeks went 2-3 with a walk today. It is a positive sign for the hitter who energized the A's offense in 2011.

Bad: Anthony Recker. He went 0-3 with a strikeout and a key passed ball that helped allow the last two Ranger runs to score.

Ugly: N/A

With the loss, the A's drop back to .500 at 19-19. They will attempt to go back over that mark as Brandon McCarthy will face Texas starter Matt Harrison in the final game of this abbreviated series. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. PT.