Texas Rangers Help Oakland Athletics Say Goodbye To Bay Area in Oakland Coliseum Finale

The Texas Rangers have struggled defensively for the past week, including in Thursday's final game against the moving Oakland Athletics at Oakland Coliseum.

Sep 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics fans look on during pregame ceremonies before the game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

OAKLAND — The Texas Rangers helped the Oakland Athletics and the Bay Area say goodbye to Major League Baseball on Thursday afternoon.

In many ways, it was a classic low-scoring, tension-filled tilt between two old American League West rivals. The Athletics bid goodbye to Oakland Coliseum — their home since 1968 — with a 3-2 win over the Rangers in the final game to be played at the 58-year-old stadium.

Oakland closer Mason Miller pitched a perfect final 1 1/3 and got Travis Jankowski to groundout to short for the final out.

The Rangers defense again failed them. The box score only shows one error, which doesn't tell an accurate story. Rookie third baseman Jonathan Ornelas rushed a throw to first on a fairly routine play to start the bottom of the third. It was ruled an infield hit (inexplicably), and the batter, Jacob Wilson, eventually scored the first run of the game. Oakland scored twice in the inning after adding two more singles ahead of JJ Bleday's fielder's choice and Shea Langeliers' sacrifice fly to left. The A's built a 3-0 lead with a run in the fifth when Wilson again reached on a leadoff single that skipped past Langford in left field and scored on Bleday's two-out single. Two batters later, Langford lost Bleday's fly ball in the sun, and the ball dropped to the turf.

Texas scored twice in the sixth after Josh Smith walked, Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia singled, and Nathaniel Lowe reached on an RBI fielder's choice.

The Rangers finished with 203 wins all-time at Oakland Coliseum, the most by any team. This was the sixth time the Washington/Texas franchise participated in the final game at a club's full-time ballpark. That includes Arlington Stadium and Globe Life Park, as well as the Senator's original ballpark and the final game at Seattle's Kingdome and Municipal Stadium in Kansas City.

Three thoughts from Thursday's game:

1. Oakland Coliseum Finale

Sep 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; An Oakland Athletics fan waves a flag before the game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Former A's pitcher Barry Zito sang the National Anthem, and Oakland Athletics legends Ricky Henderson and Dave Stewart threw out the ceremonial first pitch in Thursday's Oakland Coliseum finale. Except for a few green and yellow-colored smoke bombs thrown in right field and one fan running onto the field in the eighth inning, the finale went off without any issues, contrary to some predictions. A crowd of 46,889, the largest at the Coliseum in 2024, and nearly 10,000 more than the second-largest crowd on Aug. 17 when the A's hosted Bay Area rival San Francisco Giants.

2. Too Much Relief?

Sep 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker (80) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The Rangers were again forced to lean heavily on its bullpen after Kumar Rocker was pulled for Jack Leiter after 4 2/3 innings. Both pitched well, but Leiter put together 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. The Rangers’ 36 relief wins are the fourth-most in the American League and second-most in a season in club history behind 41 relief wins in 2016 when Texas won a league-high 95 games. Rangers starting pitchers have 12 wins since the All-Star break, and the bullpen has 17.

3. Up Next

Sep 13, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Texas Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (48) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom (0-0, 1.35) faces Angels lefty Reid Detmers (4-8, 6.67) in the series opener at 8:37 p.m. Friday at Angels Stadium.

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on X @StefanVersusTex.

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