Rangers try to halt skid versus A's

Sep 15, 2007, 14:50 GMT

- The Texas Rangers try to put the brakes on a four-game losing streak this afternoon when they play the third contest of a four-game set against the Oakland Athletics at McAfee Coliseum.

Texas continued to fall further away from .500 in the second game of this set on Friday, as Daric Barton clubbed his first career home run and finished with three hits in Oakland's 11-9 win. Nick Swisher also homered and Kurt Suzuki had a pair of hits, knocked in two runs and scored once for the A's, who have won four of their last five games.

Andrew Brown (3-2) earned the win, tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief after starter Dan Meyer was hammered for six runs on just five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.

Sammy Sosa belted a three-run homer -- the 608th long ball of his career -- and added a two-run single for Texas, which had won six in a row prior to its current slide.

After pulling to within five games of .500 back on September 11, the Rangers would now have to win 12 of their remaining 15 games to break even. Texas, which was as many as 19 games under .500 this season, has not finished with a winning record since 2004.

The loss went to John Rheinecker (2-2), who allowed the go-ahead run in the sixth. Kason Gabbard lasted just four-plus innings in the start, yielding seven runs and five hits, while walking a career-high seven and fanning four.

Hoping to add to the Rangers' misery today will be 26-year-old right-hander Joe Blanton, who has won his last two starts. Blanton picked up the win against the Seattle Mariners on Monday, as he allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings to run his record to 13-9, while lowering his ERA to 3.77.

Blanton has faced the Rangers 10 times (nine starts) and is 5-2 against them with a 4.86 ERA.

Texas will counter with right-hander Brandon McCarthy, who is 5-9 with a 5.04 ERA. McCarthy returned from the disabled list to start the second game of a doubleheader in Detroit on Tuesday, but lasted just two-thirds of an inning, as he surrendered three hits and three runs to get the loss.

McCarthy, who will be limited to between 50-to-55 pitches today, is 0-1 lifetime against the A's with an 11.57 ERA in three games (one start). His lone loss to them came the last time he faced them back on April 20, as he was hammered for six runs and four hits in just one inning.

The Rangers are 9-8 this season against the A's, but have lost four of seven in the Bay Area.

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