Rangers sweep A’s behind Lucroy’s bat, Darvish’s start

The Rangers swept the Athletics with another comeback win Wednesday night. Jonathan Lucroy homered and had three RBIs as Texas swept Oakland with 6-2 win at Globe Life Park. The Rangers are off Thursday before beginning a three-game series in Tampa Bay on Friday.

Pitching: Coco Crisp jumped on Yu Darvish’s second pitch of the game and Jake Smolinski homered to start the fifth but Darvish held the A’s at bay for the rest of seven innings to earn the victory. He struck out nine and allowed eight hits and a walk. After a lead-off double in the eighth, Jake Diekman came in and retired the side. Matt Bush struck out the side in the ninth to close it out.

Hitting: Oakland Left-hander Sean Manaea held the Rangers to three singles over the first three innings. Jonathan Lucroy’s one-out homer in the fourth tied it at 1-1. The Rangers scored twice in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead on a Ian Desmond’s opposite-field two-run single to right. Elvis Andrus and Delino DeShields set it up with a single and double. The Rangers scored three more in the seventh. Lucroy’s two-run, two-out double to the right-field corner made it 6-2.

Notable: Lucroy now has 20 homers for the first time in a season. It’s his seventh homer since joining the Rangers ... Darvish pitched into the eighth inning for the first time since June 28, 2014.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Rangers sweep A’s behind Lucroy’s bat, Darvish’s start."