If Vladimir Guerrero can start hitting on the road like he does at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington that would undoubtedly give the Rangers’ offense a big boost.
After accounting for five runs Tuesday and knocking in the only Ranger run Wednesday, he might be on the way to doing that.
Guerrero singled home Michael Young in the sixth inning for the Rangers only tally of the game. Young reached on an error by his A’s counterpart, Kevin Kouzmanoff. He went hitless Wednesday afternoon and remains tied with Rafael Palmeiro for second in total hits as a Ranger.
Other than the sixth, the Rangers best chances to score came in the fifth and seventh innings. Following a strikeout by Justin Smoak in the fifth, catcher Max Ramirez walked and Julio Borbon singled. It looked promising with the most patient Ranger, Elvis Andrus, coming up, but he hit into a double play. In the seventh, Smoak led off with a double but was stranded. Borbon tried to bunt for a hit but was not successful.
The Rangers played from behind early on as the first two batters of the game for the A’s reached against Colby Lewis, setting up RBI groundouts for Ryan Sweeney and Kouzmanoff. An Eric Patterson home run increased the A’s lead to 3-0 in the fifth, and Daric Barton hit an RBI single in the seventh.
With six strikeouts in six innings, Lewis is the current American League leader in strikeouts with 44 punchouts.
Darren Oliver and Darren O’Day (the Darren duo) pitched an inning apiece in relief. O’Day struck out two and remains unscored upon for the season.
A seven-game homestand starts Thursday night.
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