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A's cruise past Rangers

Jun 19, 2013 - 6:44 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Brandon Moss and John Jaso each hit solo home runs to support seven sharp innings from Jarrod Parker in the Oakland Athletics' 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.

The A's tagged Yu Darvish for a season-high five runs permitted by the Texas ace, with Moss adding a triple while scoring twice and Eric Sogard and Josh Donaldson contributing an RBI apiece.

Darvish (7-3) struck out 10 over six innings to run his MLB-leading total to 137, but surrendered four earned runs and had his winless streak extended to six straight starts.

Parker (6-6) was considerably more effective, limiting the Rangers' struggling offense to three hits and a pair of runs to help Oakland bounce back from Monday's 8-7 loss in the opener of this four-game set.

"[The Athletics] fought for their at-bats," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "They battled. If they got a pitch they liked, they didn't miss it. That's it right there. Parker moved his fastball around and had a good changeup. But he made some mistakes with some pitches, and we missed them."

The Rangers, on the other hand, have now dropped seven of eight and mustered two runs or less in each of those defeats.

A.J. Pierzynski provided Texas' lone offensive bright spot with a two-run single in the third inning.

Darvish racked up six strikeouts over the first three innings, but fell into a 3-0 hole as the A's got their power stroke going.

Moss opened the scoring with his fourth homer in six games, a blast into the right-field seats to open the second, and Oakland tacked on another run during the frame when Josh Reddick singled, stole second, and came around on Sogard's two-out single.

Jaso made it a three-run advantage by crushing a Darvish fastball into the stands to begin the third, though the Rangers were able to cut into the deficit during their half of the inning.

A Leonys Martin single and a walk to Ian Kinsler put two on with none out, with both runners advancing on Jurickson Profar's sacrifice bunt. Pierzynski then looped a base hit to center, with Kinsler following Martin home after Jaso couldn't hold on to Coco Crisp's throw to the plate.

Oakland quickly responded, however, as Donaldson led off the fourth with a single and Seth Smith followed with a broken-bat double before Darvish uncorked a wild pitch for a 4-2 game. Smith later scored when Rangers first baseman Lance Berkman misplayed Sogard's grounder to restore the three-run differential.

Texas' slumping bats failed to generate anything positive the rest of the way, with Parker not giving up a hit after his third-inning hiccup and retiring 13 of the final 15 batters he faced.

"My changeup was pretty good tonight," Parker said. "I think I found it in the last game. It's starting to come back to where I can throw it for a strike or put it down in the zone for a punchout."

The A's put up one final run in the eighth, when Moss greeted reliever Joseph Ortiz with a triple to left and was driven in on Donaldson's sacrifice fly.

Game Notes

Ortiz was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock prior to the game, with the Rangers placing infielder Jeff Baker on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right thumb and optioning first baseman Chris McGuiness to Round Rock ... Texas starting pitchers have not recorded a victory in a franchise-record 17 consecutive appearances, with the last coming on May 31 ... Darvish suffered only his fourth loss in 18 career decisions at Rangers Ballpark ... Jaso extended his career-best streak of reaching base safely to 17 games ... Parker improved to 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA in five lifetime starts against Texas.