As expected, the Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics played a hard-fought and tight game to start off their crucial AL West series. In the end, the Rangers took the win and dealt a huge blow to Oakland's hopes of winning the West with a 5-4 win on the back of Adrian Beltre.
The two teams traded runs all game long, with Oakland getting an early jump on Texas. Derek Holland only managed three innings before he was pulled after giving up three runs on four hits while walking two A's. Texas managed to stage a comeback in the seventh inning down 4-2 when Adrian Beltre knocked in a two-run homer to tie the game up.
Finally, it was the Rangers who broke through at the end. Texas got two men on base in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out. Elvis Andrus sac-bunted to move the men to second and third, and the A's intentionally walked Josh Hamilton to load the bases. As he did in the seventh inning, Beltre made them pay with a single that knocked in the game winning run.
Game two between Texas and Oakland will be at 7:05 p.m. CT on Tuesday night.
For more on the Texas Rangers, be sure to check out Lone Star Ball. For more on the Athletics, head over to Athletics Nation.