Andy Ibáñez, Rangers Rally Past A's

A pinch-hit in the ninth inning broke a tie and lifted the Rangers past Oakland.

Pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez’s two-RBI single in the top of the ninth inning broke a 5-5 tie and led the Texas Rangers to an 8-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.

The Rangers (21-23) were down 5-2 after the Athletics (19-29) exploded for five runs in the third inning. But Texas chipped away offensively, tying the game by the eighth inning to set up Ibáñez’s heroics.

In the ninth, Kole Calhoun led off by drawing a walk from A’s pitcher Dany Jimenez. After Sam Huff struck out, Nathaniel Lowe singled for his third hit of the game to advance Calhoun to third base. After Brad Miller struck out looking, the Rangers faced a two-out situation. 

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Jon Gray

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Jon Gray

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Jon Gray

Rangers manager Chris Woodward pinch-hit Ibáñez for left fielder Eli White, who was 0-for-3 at the time. Ibáñez laced a single to center that brought home Calhoun and Lowe, giving the Rangers a 7-5 lead and making Ibáñez 4-for-10 as a pinch-hitter.

“That was awesome,” Calhoun said, who went 1-for-3 with two runs scored. “That was a big pinch hit off a righty. It was huge for him and for the team. Hopefully he keeps that rolling. He’s a good ball player that can help us a lot.”

Ibáñez scored on a single by Marcus Semien, which put the Rangers up by three runs.

Dennis Santana came on to get his first Major League save, while reliever Matt Moore (2-0) took the win. Jimenez (1-2) ended up taking the loss for Oakland.

With the win, the Rangers clinched their first winning month in nearly three years.

The Rangers fell behind 5-2 after the third inning, when the A’s hit Rangers starter Jon Gray hard.

After a Sheldon Neuse walk and Tony Kemp single, Jed Lowrie flew out for Oakland's first out. Ramon Laureano singled to center, scoring Neuse followed by Seth Brown’s ground out to Semien, as Kemp scored from third base.

The A’s took the lead on a throwing error by Rangers catcher Jonah Heim. Laureano, who advanced to second as Kemp scored, tried to steal third. Heim’s throw hit Rangers third baseman Charlie Culberson, but the ball caromed away from him and into foul territory, and Laureano made the heads-up play to get up and score, making it 3-2 Oakland.

Then, Sean Murphy and Chad Pinder hit back-to-back solo home runs to give starting pitcher Cole Irvin some cushion with a 5-2 lead.

The Athletics pulled starter Cole Irvin (3-2) after he gave up a one-out single to Kole Calhoun in the seventh inning, which was Calhoun’s 1,000th career hit. Irvin threw 6 1/3 innings, giving up six hits, two runs and one walk, along with striking out four.

Justin Grimm replaced Irvin and gave up a single to Huff that moved Calhoun to second base. Lowe then doubled, scoring Calhoun to cut the A’s lead to 5-3, and moved Huff to third base. Miller followed with a groundout to Kemp, but by forcing out Miller, the A’s let Huff score to make it 5-4 Oakland.

In the eighth, the Rangers tied the game at 5-5 after Semien singled off Jackson to lead off the inning. After Seager struck out, Adolis García hit a deep double to left-center field, which scored Semien. But García was thrown out at third trying to stretch the hit to a triple. 

“Once we got Irvin out of the game we did a really good job (offensively),” Calhoun said. 

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Jonah Heim

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Kole Calhoun

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Nathaniel Lowe

Gray was stung by that five-run third inning, but he still managed to throw six innings, giving up five hits and three walks, while striking out five. It was his second straight game throwing at least six innings since returning from the injured list on May 16. But it was the second time in three starts that Gray gave up at least four runs. But because the Rangers rallied to tie the game, he ended up with a no-decision.

The Rangers started the game by scoring two runs in the top of the first. Semien singled to lead off the game. After a Seager lineout, García singled, and a throwing error by Neuse allowed Semien to advance to third base, while García moved to second. Heim then singled to center, which scored Semien and García to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

The Rangers face the Athletics on Saturday at 3:07 p.m. CT. The Rangers are scheduled to start Taylor Hearn, with the Athletics countering with Zach Logue.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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