Rangers, Otto Humbled In 10-5 Pounding By A's

Glenn Otto had a night to learn from as the Texas Rangers were shellacked by the Oakland Athletics, 10-5.

Chris Halicke | Sep 11, 2021

The Texas Rangers have still not won five games in a row this season.

The Rangers had their four-game winning streak snapped on Friday night as they were shellacked by the Oakland Athletics, losing by a score of 10-5. The A's combined for 16 hits and put this one out of reach early on.

Rangers starter Glenn Otto has given fans some reason for excitement, highlighted by a memorable Major League debut against the Houston Astros a couple of weeks ago. But on Friday night, Otto was humbled by a stingy Oakland lineup.

Adolis García gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and Otto followed a scoreless bottom half of the frame. However, the A's got to Otto in the second. He walked Jed Lowrie and hit Mark Canha with a pitch to lead off the inning. Then Tony Kemp and Sean Murphy hit back-to-back singles, tying the game at 1-1.

Immediately after pitching coach Doug Mathis went out to the mound to have a word with the young Rangers hurler, Otto hit Elvis Andrus with the bases loaded, driving in the second run of the inning. Otto responded with a strikeout of Josh Harrison, but Starling Marte made it 3-1 with another bases-loaded RBI single. Then, Matt Olson cleared the bases with a three-run single (he was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double).

Otto bounced back with a strong third inning, but ran into more trouble in the fourth inning. He was pulled after recording just one out in the frame, and was charged with two more runs. Overall, Otto gave up eight runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.

"I feel like in that [second inning], I was trying to make great pitches instead of good pitches. I think my good pitches would have been good enough to get out of that," Otto said. "Obviously, hindsight is 20/20. I'm going to learn from it. It definitely stings, giving up a six-spot. But I'm going to see those guys plenty throughout my career. I'll learn from it, wake up tomorrow and get back to work."

Hyeon-jong Yang came in to relieve Otto, but he had his own struggles on the mound as well. The A's got into double digits in the run column with Yang on the mound, who gave up two runs on five hits with no walks and two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

Dane Dunning made his return to the mound after being shut down on the COVID-19 Injured List. Dunning was only scheduled to pitch one inning, and it was a good one. He gave up one hit, but he kept the A's off the board and struck out a batter in the frame.

Offensively, Nathaniel Lowe gave the Rangers a bit of life after Oakland's six-run second inning. With two on in the third inning, Lowe roped one into the right-center gap for a two-run double. Nick Solak followed with an RBI single, which drove in Lowe and pulled the Rangers within two.

Though Leody Taveras added a run with an RBI double in the ninth inning, the offense just couldn't keep up with an Oakland lineup that had their way with Texas pitching on Friday.

What's Next

The Rangers (51-89) and A's (77-64) continue their three-game series on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum. A pair of left-handers will face off on Saturday: Kolby Allard (3-12, 5.00 ERA) will take the ball for Texas, as Cole Irvin (9-13, 4.10 ERA) gets the start for Oakland.

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Published Sep 11, 2021

CHRIS HALICKE