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Oswalt, Rangers top A's

Jul 18, 2012 - 7:01 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Roy Oswalt tossed 6 1/3 strong innings on Tuesday and the Texas Rangers knocked off their division-rival Oakland A's, 6-1, in the opener of a two-game set at The Coliseum.

Oswalt (3-1) allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts and no walks to earn the win. The Rangers bullpen did the rest and Tanner Scheppers worked a clean ninth inning to close out the win.

"I'm getting close," Oswalt said. "The hitters have 300 at-bats behind them and have seen a lot of pitchers, and I'm trying to get up to speed."

Josh Hamilton cracked a solo home run and finished with a pair of RBI, Adrian Beltre added a solo shot and Craig Gentry went 2-for-3 with an RBI single for the Rangers, who have won five of their last six.

Josh Reddick accounted for the lone run with a home run for the A's, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Bartolo Colon (6-8) suffered a rare loss at the hands of the Rangers, after allowing four runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts over seven innings. He came into the game with a 13-1 mark over his last 15 starts against Texas.

"When guys aren't hitting, you expect the rest of the lineup to be able to pick you up, and to this point we've had production from other guys to overcome the struggles of some guys," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said.

Texas opened the scoring with a run in the third inning. After David Murphy and Mike Napoli made the first two outs, Gentry beat out an infield single. Gentry then made it all the way to third on a wild throwing error by Colon before scoring via a base hit into right by Elvis Andrus.

The Rangers widened their lead to 4-0 in their next at-bat. Beltre led off the frame with a shot over the wall in left-center. Michael Young singled and Nelson Cruz followed with a double to right to set up runners on second and third with no outs. Napoli ripped a run-scoring single to right two batters later and Gentry legged out a bunt single to score Cruz,

The A's picked up their only run of the game in the seventh when Reddick led off the frame by ripping a fastball from Oswalt down the line in right and just inside the foul pole, cutting the deficit to 4-1.

Hamilton smoked his 28th long ball of the season leading off the eighth to extend the lead to 5-1, and the A's had a golden opportunity to make it interesting in the home half of the inning.

With Mike Adams on the mound, Weeks was hit by a pitch, Smith singled and Reddick walked to load the bases for Cespedes with one out. The A's power threat fanned, though, and Brandon Moss popped out to end the inning.

Hamilton knocked in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the ninth to cap the scoring.

Game Notes

Colon is winless in three starts since coming off the disabled list due to strained right oblique...Oswalt improved to 1-1 in three career meetings with Oakland...The Rangers are 4-1 in games started by Oswalt this season...Texas went 3-for-8 and stranded seven, while the A's went 0-for-6 and left seven on base.