Rangers recap: Athletics rough up Gonzalez to take series opener

Chi Chi Gonzalez didn’t have the best of command and the Texas Rangers offense, after showing early signs of life, ran out of steam a shaky Oakland Athletics’ bullpen to drop the series opener Tuesday 8-6 at Globe Life Park.

Pitching: Gonzalez, facing the Oakland A’s for the second time (the first team to see him twice) did not fare well. Oakland tied it at 1-1 with three singles in the third and took a 2-1 lead on Josh Phegley’s homer to left-center in the fifth. The A’s took a 6-5 lead in the sixth to knock Gonzalez from the game. The go-ahead run came on a Marcus Semien double off Keone Kela who had replaced Gonzalez with a runner on second. Gonzalez allowed six runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. The eight hits tied his career-high and the six runs doubled the amount he allowed in his first 30 innings this season. In the seventh, Kela walked the lead-off batter before Ben Zobrist belted a two-run homer. That knocked Kela from the game as Sam Freeman took over. Freeman, Anthony Bass and Alex Claudio combined for three scoreless innings of relief.

Hitting: Elvis Andrus doubled to start the second, moved to third on Leonys Martin’s ground out and scored on a passed ball to give Texas 1-0 lead. Later in the second, Robinson Chirinos walked and moved to third on Rougned Odor’s double, but Joey Gallo flew out to center to end the inning. In the fifth, Chirinos led off with a single before Odor homered to right to give Texas a 3-2 lead. Consecutive doubles by Gallo and Prince Fielder set up a sacrifice fly by Adrian Beltre to make it 4-2. Another run scored on Andrus’ infield single off the foot of pitcher Jesse Chavez’s foot to make it 5-2. Andrus’ doubled in Adrian Beltre in the seventh to pull the Rangers to within 8-6. Martin had runners on second and third but Martin grounded out to second to end the inning. In the eighth, the Rangers had two on with one out but Gallo struck out and Fielder grounded out to second.

In the ninth, Beltre led off with a single but Moreland grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Andrus struck out.

Notable: The Rangers streak of starters allowing three or fewer runs was stopped at a franchise-record 17 games when Gonzalez allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings ... Fielder, Moreland and Martin combined to ground out to second base eight times.

This story was originally published June 23, 2015 at 10:27 PM with the headline "Rangers recap: Athletics rough up Gonzalez to take series opener."