Rangers vs. A's

[Bob Of Burleson]

The game's at 7:05 p.m. on Channel 21.

[Bob Of Burleson]

Hello, win column!

[BigTex]

Felliz looked like he was going to serve up a plateful of choke.

[Bob Of Burleson]

The kid's 26 years old and his best days are behind him.

[Bob Of Burleson]

Williams lifts Rangers past A's in Texas debut
Righty allows a run in six innings in victory over AL West leaders

By Grace Raynor / MLB.com

ARLINGTON -- So many times this season, the injury-riddled Rangers have needed a break -- a big hit with a runner in scoring position, an outing in which both the pitching and the hitting came together on the same page.

On Friday night the Rangers scored four runs, almost exactly the average number of runs they've scored in each game of a season that has already featured 62 losses.

But with a 4-1 win against the A's, the Rangers got their break. And they got it against the league's most dominant team.

The Rangers struck first in the second, when left fielder Jim Adduci led off with a double to deep center field, and scored for the 1-0 lead when J.P. Arencibia singled to left.

They put another run on the board in the third when Elvis Andrus sent a triple to center field and was brought home moments later when Alex Rios singled into left.

The A's didn't respond until the sixth when Yoenis Cespedes singled to left field to score Eric Sogard, who had also singled to left to make it 2-1.

But two sixth-inning runs from the Rangers put the game out of reach for the A's. Adrian Beltre singled to score Andrus, and Adduci's sacrifice fly scored Rios.

The team with the lowest winning percentage in the league had set itself up to beat the team with the highest -- and the Rangers pitchers had only helped that cause.

Right-hander Jerome Williams, who was purchased from Triple-A Round Rock Friday to start in place of Nick Tepesch, threw six innings of one-run ball with five hits and four strikeouts. Tepesch was originally slated to start Friday, but because the Rangers used him out of the bullpen in a 14-inning loss to the Yankees Tuesday, his start was pushed back a day.

After Williams, Rangers relievers Roman Mendez, Ryan Feierabend, Neal Cotts and Neftali Feliz all combined to give up two hits.

MORE