Shea Langeliers smashed a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning and Jacob Wilson hit a two-run shot one inning later to help the Athletics post a 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
Tyler Soderstrom had an RBI double while reaching base three times and Denzel Clarke added a run-scoring single as the Athletics won for the seventh time in the past eight games. Langeliers and Wilson each had two hits.
Joel Kuhnel retired four straight hitters to register his third save of the season for the A’s.
Jake Burger hit a three-run blast and Kyle Seager hit a two-run homer for Texas, which lost for the second straight night after winning the opener of a four-game series that concludes Thursday. Wyatt Langford had two hits for the Rangers.
Lawrence Butler singled off Jalen Beeks (1-1) to start the sixth inning before the left-hander retired the next two batters.
Righty Cole Winn was called on to face Langeliers, who drilled a 2-1 sinker a whopping 467 feet to left center to give the Athletics a 4-2 lead. It was his first blast since April 1.
One inning later, Soderstrom walked to start the inning and Wilson followed with a two-run shot to left off Winn, who hadn’t allowed a run in eight appearances entering the contest.
The Rangers got back into the game in the eighth against Mark Leiter Jr. Seager walked with one out and Langford singled. Burger then jumped on a first-pitch curveball and slugged a three-run homer to left to bring Texas within 6-5.
The homer was Burger’s third of the series to go with eight RBIs.
Kumar Rocker allowed two runs and four hits over 4 2/3 innings for the Rangers. He struck out six and walked four.
The Athletics’ T.J. Ginn gave up two runs and two hits over 5 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Hogan Harris (1-0) retired two straight batters to complete the sixth inning.
Texas trailed 2-0 entering the third inning when Brandon Nimmo drew a one-out walk and Seager followed by sending a 1-0 cutter over the fence in right center to knot the score.
The Athletics scored in the first when Carlos Cortes drew a two-out walk and scored on Soderstrom’s double to deep left.
The A’s made it 2-0 in the second when Max Muncy was hit by a pitch with one out, stole second, moved to third on Butler’s groundout and scored on Clarke’s ground single to left.
