Brent Rooker lined a two-run tiebreaking homer in the ninth inning and Lawrence Butler followed with a grand slam as the Athletics turned it on late to beat the Texas Rangers 7-1 on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas.
Rooker was the first batter faced by Texas closer Luke Jackson after the Athletics’ Tyler Soderstrom opened the ninth with a single off Robert Garcia (1-1). Seth Brown pinch-ran for Soderstrom and scored on Rooker’s eighth home run of the season, a shot to left.
Jackson loaded the bases with a single and two walks while getting just one out. Shawn Armstrong entered and fanned the first batter he faced before Butler socked his first homer of the year to center field, putting the game out of reach.
The Athletics won for the second time in the first three games of a four-game series. Grant Holman (3-0), the third pitcher for the visitors, allowed one hit over two scoreless innings. Tyler Ferguson finished up with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Butler, Rooker, Jacob Wilson and Shea Langeliers had two hits each to lead the Athletics.
Adolis Garcia and Josh Jung each had a pair of hits for Texas. The Rangers left 11 runners on base and finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Neither starter figured in the decision. Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi left after allowing a run on six hits over six innings. He struck out eight and walked none. The Athletics’ Luis Severino yielded one run on eight hits with four strikeouts and a walk in five-plus innings.
The Athletics used some small ball to open the scoring in the third inning. JJ Bleday began the inning with a double to right field and went to third on a one-out single to left by Butler. Wilson, who has the team’s best batting average, then caught the Texas defense off guard with a safety-squeeze bunt single to first base to plate Bleday.
Texas answered in the fourth. Garcia produced a two-out single to center field to bring home Marcus Semien, who had reached on a fielder’s choice after Joc Pederson singled.
