Rangers 3 - 4 Athletics
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Hicks lifts Athletics over Rangers

Jul 19, 2012 - 1:58 AM

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Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Brandon Hicks went 44 major league games without hitting a home run.

He won the 45th with his first.

Hicks, who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning, hit a walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday to lift the Oakland Athletics to a 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers.

The A's tied the game on Josh Reddick's two-run double in the seventh and won it on Hicks' homer off Michael Kirkman (0-1), splitting a two-game series.

"It was exciting to get a big hit in that situation," said Hicks. "Any time you can win a game it's exciting for the team and for yourself."

Brandon Inge also homered for the A's, who have won 10 of their last 12.

Hicks, in his 12th game of the season, popped a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right-center field, giving the A's another in a list of dramatic wins this season.

"When we get into the ninth inning and beyond when it's tied, we've had so many of them we just feel good about it," said A's manager Bob Melvin.

Michael Young and Nelson Cruz hit RBI singles and Craig Gentry had an RBI double for the Rangers, who lost for just the second time in seven games.

Texas righty Colby Lewis pitched five innings in his return from the disabled list with a right forearm tendinitis. In his first start since June 23, he gave up one run on three hits and two walks and struck out three.

"In the fourth and fifth he started tiring," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Lewis. "It looked like he started getting the ball up a little bit. They worked him hard there in the fourth and fifth."

A's starter Travis Blackley was charged with three runs on six hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out four.

Neither pitcher surrendered a run until the fifth inning. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead on Gentry's double but Inge tied the game with his eight homer of the season leading off the bottom of the inning.

Young's RBI single chased Blackley in the sixth and Cruz greeted Grant Balfour with a hit through the left side to make it 3-1.

Inge sparked Oakland's two-run rally in the sixth inning with a leadoff double off Robbie Ross and scored later on Reddick's tying two-run double off Alexi Ogando. Hicks also came home on the hit after pinch-running for Chris Carter, who had drawn a walk.

Game Notes

The teams have split 12 games this season...Oakland's six-game homestand finishes with four against the Yankees starting Thursday...The Rangers are 3-2 on an eight-game road trip that continues Friday in Anaheim...Lewis threw an eight-inning complete game against Oakland on June 6 but took the loss in a 2-0 Rangers defeat.






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