Rangers 4 - 11 Athletics
Final
  for this game

A's batter Rangers, AL West race deadlocked

Sep 5, 2013 - 1:16 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - There is a tie atop the American League West.

Josh Donaldson and Daric Barton homered during a six-run sixth inning and the Oakland Athletics pulled even with Texas for first place in the division after an 11-4 win over the Rangers on Wednesday.

The A's took the three-game series 2-1 to match the Rangers with an 80-59 record in the two-horse AL West race.

"I'm not disappointed. We're still in first place," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "They won the series from us. That's it. Today was the better day for them."

Oakland righty Jarrod Parker (11-6) remained unbeaten since May 22 to set a franchise record, going six innings and giving up two runs, five hits and no walks with four strikeouts.

Parker is 9-0 in 18 starts since his last loss -- besting Catfish Hunter's 17- game unbeaten streak from June 2-Sept. 3, 1973, the previous A's record.

Donaldson hit a three-run homer and Barton had a two-run blast -- two of Oakland's four home runs. Brandon Moss and Coco Crisp added two-run homers.

Oakland's sixth-run sixth made it 9-2 -- all the runs came with no outs.

Barton's blast knocked Texas starter Yu Darvish out of the game and Robbie Ross gave up the other four runs on Crisp's RBI single and Donaldson's three- run shot.

Darvish (12-7) surrendered five runs, five hits and six walks in his five-plus innings.

The Rangers have lost each of Darvish's last four starts, including his previous outing Friday night, when the right-hander lost a no-hitter in the seventh inning against the Twins.

The A's are 3-0 this season against Darvish -- something Oakland manager Bob Melvin attributes to his team's knack for jumping on one of the best pitchers in baseball.

"The key is to get him out of sync early in games, and we've been able to do that," said Melvin.

Joey Butler hit an RBI single in the seventh for the Rangers, but Crisp's homer in the eighth made it 11-3 A's. Geovany Soto homered in the ninth for Texas.

Earlier, Moss hit a two-run homer off Darvish in the first inning and Crisp had a sacrifice fly in the second to make it 3-0. Leonys Martin's RBI double and Craig Gentry's RBI single in the third got the Rangers on the board.

Game Notes

The A's are 12-6 in Parker's last 18 starts ... Darvish had four strikeouts to raise his MLB-leading total to 240 ... The A's are 4-1 on a 10-game homestand that ends with four against Houston starting Thursday ...The Rangers visit Anaheim to play the Angels for three games this weekend.






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