Beltre returns, but Rangers can’t stop A’s

Now starting at third base again for the Texas Rangers is Adrian Beltre, a development that rated as at least a 9 on the Stun-O-Meter on Tuesday afternoon.

But there he was, fresh off the disabled list without so much as two rounds of batting practice, not to mention no rehab assignment or with his left thumb at 100 percent, behind right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez in the field and Prince Fielder in the batting order.

“Good enough to play,” Beltre said. “I just wanted to be in there and I was just waiting to be good enough to swing the bat, and that was today.”

Beltre contributed, too, with a sacrifice fly in the Rangers’ four-run fifth inning. But that was quickly countered by a four-run sixth for the Oakland Athletics, who then hung on for an 8-6 victory to open a three-game series at Globe Life Park.

Gonzalez allowed six earned runs, twice as many as he allowed in his first four big-league starts, as he faced a team a second time for the first time in his career. The Rangers also saw their franchise-record streak of consecutive starts with no more than three earned runs snapped at 17.

Leonys Martin misread a line drive that could have limited the A’s to just one run in the sixth, and the bullpen reverted to its early-May form, unable to keep inherited runners from scoring and unable to keep a Rangers deficit manageable.

Gonzalez, though, said he wasn’t good enough with his location, especially as he started the sixth at only 65 pitches and with a 5-2 lead.

“It’s upsetting that I did give it up,” Gonzalez said. “I was missing spots, and I shouldn’t miss spots. If pitches aren’t sharp, they’re going to get hit.”

His first poor outing came on the same day that it was reported the Rangers have had ongoing conversations with Philadelphia about left-handed ace Cole Hamels.

A source, though, said that nothing has progressed beyond the talks the clubs had in the winter, when the Rangers were so strapped for cash that they acquired Ross Detwiler to bolster the rotation.

He’s now in the bullpen, which needs a trade-deadline upgrade far more desperately than the rotation needs a boost. The lineup got a boost with Beltre’s return, and it’s becoming less bogged down by left-handed hitters with righty hitters Ryan Rua and Beltre back and with Delino DeShields 10 to 14 days away from returning.

That will help them against left-handed starters.

“When you get Adrian in there and you get Rua in there and if you add Delino back, that spreads those left-handers out,” manager Jeff Banister said. “That is a much better lineup vs. left-handers.”

The Rangers were doing just fine against A’s starter Jesse Chavez, a right-hander, especially in the fifth. The first four batters collected hits, with Rougned Odor hitting a go-ahead two-run homer as the third hitter of the inning.

Beltre’s sac fly made it 4-2, and Elvis Andrus capped the inning with an infield single off Chavez’s foot to make it 5-2.

“He swung the bat well,” Banister said of Beltre.

Gonzalez, though, walked Ben Zobrist to start the inning, hit Billy Butler two batters later and allowed an Ike Davis RBI double to make it 5-3. After Brett Lawrie struck out, Josh Phegley hit a liner to center that Martin charged initially.

By the time Martin realized his mistake, the ball was sailing over his head for a two-run double and a 5-5 tie.

“Well-hit ball,” Banister said. “I’d have to go back and look at the replay on the approach and the route, but that ball was struck well.”

Keone Kela entered, and Marcus Semien drove in Phegley with a go-ahead double. Zobrist got Kela for a two-run homer in the seventh, and the Rangers were down 8-5.

Andrus delivered another run in the seventh with a two-out double. He and Odor each finished with three hits and two RBIs, but the Rangers missed out in the eighth and saw Beltre eliminated on a Mitch Moreland double play after a leadoff single in the ninth.

This story was originally published June 23, 2015 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Beltre returns, but Rangers can’t stop A’s."