Athletics 4 - 5 Rangers
Final
  for this game

A's hope Samardzija can pitch them to postseason berth

Sep 27, 2014 - 2:47 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The theory at the time of the July trade was: Oakland Athletics plus Jeff Samardzija equals the postseason.

The former Chicago Cubs ace can put the hypothesis to the test against the Texas Rangers on Saturday night at Globe Life Park, where a victory will clinch one of the two available American League wild card playoff berths for the visiting Athletics in game three of a four-game series.

Oakland leads the Seattle Mariners by two games for the final wild card position with two games remaining, meaning one victory by the Athletics or one loss by the Mariners in the final weekend of the season will clinch a playoff spot for Oakland for the third straight season.

The Athletics are a game behind Kansas City for the first wild card position. The Royals cemented their first postseason appearance in 29 years with a win on Friday night.

Samardzija was brought over from the Cubs in July in the hopes that he'd get Oakland to the promised land and end a personal drought that's seen him not reach postseason play since 2008. He's allowed one earned run in his last three starts and enters Saturday with a streak of 23 innings since he surrendered one.

He went eight innings and allowed one run in a Sept. 17 game with the Rangers, but saw the bullpen pitch the game into a 6-1 loss. In his last outing, on Monday, he gave up an unearned run in seven innings while defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 8-4.

"This last month's been fun for me. It's a new situation for me, and something I've been asking for a long time," Samardzija said. "I got in this situation and I want to take advantage of it. Opportunities aren't guaranteed and they don't come around too often, so you don't want to waste them."

He's got a 2.66 earned run average in six road starts with Oakland, but has managed just a 1-3 record while getting two or fewer supporting runs in four of the six games.

Texas has won 12 of its last 14 to put a positive spin on an otherwise awful season, and the Rangers will send lefty Derek Holland to the mound with an aim to continue a personal late-season renaissance of his own.

He missed the bulk of the season after undergoing knee surgery, but has returned to start five games and pitch into the seventh inning in each, including a no-decision in the aforementioned Sept. 17 game with Oakland.

He allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings in that one, and allowed three runs on seven hits Monday while beating Houston, 4-3.

"The main thing was that I didn't have my best stuff but I went out there and pitched," Holland said. "I made sure to bear down when I needed to."

His last two home starts against Oakland have seen him allow nine runs in six innings.

On Friday, Josh Reddick hit a solo home run and drove in three as the Athletics took a 6-2 win over Texas.

Adam Dunn drove in a pair of runs and Jed Lowrie finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for Oakland.

Scott Kazmir (15-9) gave up two runs -- one earned -- on four hits over seven innings to snap a four-decision losing streak.

Leonys Martin and Ryan Rua each drove in a run for the Rangers.

Nick Tepesch (5-11) allowed six runs -- five earned -- on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.






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