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Crisp helps A's top Rangers

Jun 8, 2012 - 1:26 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Coco Crisp knocked in four runs and Brandon McCarthy held the Rangers' offense at bay in Oakland's 7-1 win, clinching a series victory in their four-game set.

McCarthy (5-3) gave up one run in seven innings, giving up only three hits on the day. He did not walk any hitters and struck out five.

Crisp went 2-for-4 with a bases-clearing triple in the fourth and a home run for the A's, who have won four of their last six games after losing nine straight.

"I think everybody can sleep well at night knowing that they are trying their best and it's only going to improve," said Crisp. "I like the direction that we are moving right now."

Yu Darvish (7-4) struggled with his command in the loss. The right-handed rookie walked six A's in 5 1/3 innings, while giving up six hits, which led to six Oakland runs. He also hit a batter.

Darvish's command hurt him most in the A's four-run fourth inning. After retiring the leadoff man, Darvish walked the next two hitters before hitting Kurt Suzuki. After Cliff Pennington lofted a fly ball to center field to score Brandon Inge, Darvish walked Jemile Weeks.

Crisp made Darvish pay with a long fly ball off the base of the right-field fence. Three runs scored, giving Oakland a 6-1 lead, and Crisp cruised into third with a triple.

Oakland took an early lead after Weeks led off the first with a single. Three batters later, Yoenis Cespedes singled to move him to third. Weeks then scored on Seth Smith's base hit.

Following Crisp's solo homer in the third, Texas closed the gap. Adrian Beltre drove in Josh Hamilton with an RBI single to split the A's lead in half.

The Rangers would only pick up one more hit on the day, though, and were unable to overcome Oakland's big fourth inning.

"I'm not going to take anything away from them." said Rangers manager Ron Washington about his team's offensive struggles. "Sometimes you get beat, you accept it, you move on. We accept it, we move on."

The A's added a run in the seventh when Brandon Moss launched a long home run to right field to give the A's a seven-run lead.

After McCarthy left, Grant Balfour and Jerry Blevins kept the Rangers quiet to ice the win.

Game Notes

Cespedes left the game in the fourth inning with a strained left hamstring; the team announced that he is day-to-day...The A's are 4-2 against the Rangers this season...The Rangers are 10-12 (3-7 on the road) against the American League West this season...Darvish is now fourth in the A.L. with 77 strikeouts...A's pitchers have compiled a 2.77 earned run average (29 earned runs in 94 2/3 innings) over the last 11 games...McCarthy won his fifth straight decision and has a 2.31 ERA in his last six starts...McCarthy improved to 2-2 with a 1.85 ERA at home this season.