Rangers put countdown to 100 losses on hold

That stench coming from O.co Coliseum the past three days really could be a number of things, from the plumbing woes to the lousy food to the growing army of rodents that calls the worst ballpark in the majors home.

But nothing stunk worse than the Oakland A’s, the team that once was running away with the American League West only to be caught and trampled by the Los Angeles Angels.

The Texas Rangers kept piling onto the East Bay misery this week.

They won their season-best sixth straight game Thursday and completed a three-game sweep of the A’s, scoring four two-out runs in the first against All-Star Sonny Gray and tacking on behind Nick Martinez for a 7-2 victory.

Jake Smolinski collected a career-high four hits, and Tomas Telis collected two RBIs as the Rangers swept consecutive series for the first time this season.

In the process, they tried to distance themselves from another stench, the one that comes with 100 losses. With 10 games to play, the Rangers need to go 3-7 to void the shame that accompanies a 100-loss season.

A 99-loss campaign wouldn’t be celebrated, by any means, but it beats the tar out of the 100.

“Is 99 much better? It sounds way better,” interim manager Tim Bogar said. “It looks, it smells, it tastes [better]. When you lose 99, it’s not a complete failure. When you lose 100, it’s a complete failure.”

The Rangers have three games this weekend at the Angels, who should be over their celebratory hangover by first pitch Friday. The Angels want home-field advantage, so they aren’t just going to be resting their regulars.

The Rangers head home Sunday night for the final seven games of the season, three against Houston and four against the A’s.

There should be three wins in there somewhere, especially if the Rangers continue to get quality starting pitching.

Martinez (4-11) fell an out short of a quality start Thursday, allowing two runs in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed only three hits and threw only 79 pitches, but only 43 were strikes as he struggled at times with his command after two easy innings to start the game.

“The game sped up on me a little bit, and I got away from my game plan,” said Martinez, whose four wins this season have come in day games on the road. “I thought I was able to get back on track.”

The Rangers’ streak of six straight quality starts came to an end, but the starters’ ERA during the winning streak is a scant 2.37. The bullpen has been up to the task, too, at 1.13.

That makes life a lot easier on an offense that opened the month with three or fewer runs in 11 of 12 games. The Rangers, though, have scored 29 times in their past four games and 34 runs during the winning streak.

They outscored Oakland 19-5 in the series. Their four-run first was highlighted by three two-out RBI singles by rookies Smolinski, Telis and Ryan Rua.

“I think our team can beat anybody when we play the way we’re supposed to be,” infielder Adam Rosales said.

Rangers players have known for more than a month that a 100-loss season was a very realistic possibility. It was a topic they spoke about begrudgingly, as if talking about it would make it come true.

Before the winning streak, which started Sept. 12, the Rangers needed to go 9-7 to avoid 100 Ls. The way they have played the past six games, three more wins should be a piece of cake.

“It’s not a piece of cake, because anything in baseball can happen,” said Adrian Beltre, who became the all-time leader in hits (2,591) by a native of the Dominican Republic. “But we’re going to do our best.”

It’s definitely something they want to avoid.

“I don’t know if it’s ever a goal to not lose 100 games,” Rosales said. “I think we’re more focused on playing good baseball. Winning just happens because of that. You never want to lose 100 games.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2014 at 8:29 PM with the headline "Rangers put countdown to 100 losses on hold."