Rangers Trounce Athletics in Series Finale

Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

September 10, 2023

Rangers 9, Athletics 4

ARLINGTON, Tex. (Sep 10) — The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics in convincing fashion, 9–4, Sunday afternoon. Multi-homer performances by both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager helped set the tone in the matinee. With this win, they take the series from the Athletics, winning two out of three. It also puts an end to a long nine-game homestand, in which they went 3–6. They sit three games behind the first-place Houston Astros in the AL West. From here, they head on a seven-game road trip, starting with four against the Toronto Blue Jays, and three against the Cleveland Guardians. The Blue Jays series will start on Monday with first pitch scheduled for 6:07 pm Central. Right-hander Chris Bassitt (14–7, 3.69 ERA) will get the ball for the Blue Jays, while Dane Dunning (9–6, 3.88 ERA) will take the hill for the Rangers.

Production from the Leadoff Spot

The Rangers got off to a quick start on Sunday. On the first pitch that he saw from Athletics starter Luis Medina, Semien deposited one over the wall in left. With that swing, Semien set a new Senators/Rangers franchise single-season record with eight leadoff home runs in 2023. He surpassed the previous high of seven, which was done four times, most recently by Shin-Soo Choo in 2019. Later in the inning, Robbie Grossman plated Mitch Garver and Nathaniel Lowe with a ground-rule double to center. Lowe was hit by a pitch and Garver reached on a double to left, respectively, prior to Grossman’s at-bat.

The Athletics got on the board in the top of the third. With righty Jon Gray on the mound for the Rangers, Tyler Soderstrom hit a solo home run to right. Later in the inning, Zack Gelof scored on a single to right by Seth Brown. Gelof drew a walk two batters prior. Moments later, Ryan Noda scored on a single to center by Jordan Diaz. Like Gelof, Noda also reached on a walk earlier in the inning. At this point, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy had seen enough, as he walked out to the mound to take the ball from Gray. Lefty Andrew Heaney was brought in from the bullpen. On the first pitch from Heaney, the Athletics took a 4–3 lead. Lawrence Butler reached second on a fielding error by Josh H. Smith. This drove in Brown.

A Quick Flurry of Runs for the Rangers

Things happened fast for the Rangers from then on. They scored two in the bottom of the fifth. With Adrian Martinez on in relief of Medina, Semien and Seager scored on a single by Lowe. Seager reached on a double to left, and Semien reached first on a force out at second. Evan Carter was thrown out at second on the play.

In the bottom of the sixth, Smith brought in Leody Taveras with a triple to right, the first of his career, to make it 6–4 Rangers.

On deck was Carter, who hit a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Smith to score. This marked Carter’s first major league RBI. They didn’t stop there, however. Semien and Seager hit back-to-back homers to make it 9–4 Rangers. For Seager, it was his 30th long ball of the season. It is the second time in his career he has hit 30 homers in a season after hitting 33 in 2022. It also makes him the third player in Rangers history with 30 home runs in each of his first two years with the club. He joins Alex Rodriguez (2001-02-03) and Adrian Beltre (2011-12-13) in that category.

Gray Goes Two and Change

It was an uncharacteristically short outing for Gray on Sunday. He pitched 2 2/3 innings. Over that stretch, he gave up four runs, three earned, on four hits. One of those hits was the solo home run by Soderstrom in the top of the third. Gray also walked two and struck out three on 60 pitches, 38 for strikes. After Gray’s exit, Heaney came in and pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings. He surrendered four hits, walked one, and struck out six.

Heaney got the win, bringing his record for 2023 to 10–6 with an ERA of 4.10. For the Athletics, Medina allowed five runs, all earned, in 4 1/3 innings to drop his season record to 3–9. He is 0–1 with an ERA of 8.00 along with six walks and six strikeouts in his two starts this month. Medina took the losing decision for the Athletics. His record now sits at 3–9 with an ERA of 5.68.

Postgame Comments

In the interview room after the game, Bochy was asked if this win could ignite a spark for his team. He replied, “We hope so. That was a great game by the guys. The offense really picked us up. Jon (Gray) just lost it on the mound. There’s no other way to say that. He threw 22 pitches in the third on top of what he had already thrown, and I had to go get him. (Andrew) Heaney came in and picked us up. He gave us some good innings, and that was just as good for him as it was for us. He’s been struggling lately, so hopefully this will do some good for his confidence.”

Bochy also reflected on his offense by saying, “It was a great job by those guys all around, especially from Marcus (Semien). You have a three-run lead, and that was erased. So these guys did a really nice job of getting it back with interest. You don’t see multi-homer games from both Semien and Seager, and when you do, you try to savor it.”