Texas Rangers vs. Oakland Athletics Live Blog: Analysis and Reaction

After splitting the first two games of the four-game series, the Texas Rangers (40-32) exploded for 14 hits to pick up a 9-4 win against the Oakland Athletics (43-31) on Wednesday night.

The Rangers got the scoring started early with a two-run homer by Lance Berkman in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. Justin Grimm found his location early before running into trouble in the fifth, surrendering a three-run homer to Chris Young that gave the A’s a 3-2 lead.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth the Rangers reeled off five-straight singles to open up the game. Leonys Martin, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, and Adrian Beltre all picked up RBIs in the inning, giving the Rangers an 8-3 lead heading into the seventh.

Texas showed great patience at the plate in the game while holding the A's to only six hits. The offensive onslaught was led by a 3-for-5 night by Nelson Cruz. Ian Kinsler added two hits and two RBIs, and is now 5-for-11 with 3 RBIs in the series.

Grimm picked up his sixth win of the season with a five inning and three-earned run performance on the hill. Tommy Milone took the loss after giving up eight hits and six hits in 5.1 innings.

The win makes the Rangers 2-1 in the series and shrinks the A’s division lead to only two games with one game left on Thursday.

Texas has won only three games in its last 10 games but the revitalization of its offense gives it a ton of momentum heading into the last game of the four-game homestand with Oakland.

Thursday’s game is set to start at 2:05 p.m. ET with Josh Lindblom (0-2, 5.94)  of the Rangers making the start against A.J. Griffin (5-6, 3.93) of the A’s.