Odor, Guzmán Homer in Rangers Game One Win Over A's; Elvis Andrus to 10-Day IL

ARLINGTON, Texas — In the first leg of Saturday's doubleheader, the Texas Rangers defeated the Oakland Athletics by a score of 5-2, flipping the script from Friday night's game when A's first baseman Matt Olson hit a grand slam in the first inning.

Just when it looked like the Rangers were going to go quietly in the first inning, Texas rallied with two outs. Joey Gallo drew a two-out walk to join Leody Taveras on base, then Rougned Odor tucked a line drive over the wall in the right field corner for a three-run home run.

Elvis Andrus kept the inning going with a single, then Ronald Guzmán blasted a home run to right field to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead.

Also flipping the script from Friday night, Nick Goody pitched a perfect first inning as the Rangers' opener. Wes Benjamin followed with four solid innings, only allowing one run in his second-longest outing of the season. Jonathan Hernández and Rafael Montero came in to close out the seven-inning game, evening the four-game series with the A's.

Benjamin's four solid innings earned him his first career win in the big leagues, hoping there are many more in the future.

"I’m hoping that if there’s any questions if I could potentially start in this league, I would hope that I’ve resolved them a little bit," Benjamin said. "I told Woody whatever it takes to win games, I think that’s going to main goal for me is, whether it’s starting or relieving, I’m going to go out and do whatever I can to help the team win."

In a surprising turn of events, the Rangers placed Elvis Andrus on the 10-day IL with a back strain just minutes after the game and called up promising prospect Sherten Apostel to start in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. Woodward does not expect Andrus to return this season.

“He may get a shot in his back which would put him out of commission and we only have a couple weeks left,” manager Chris Woodward said. “It wouldn’t make sense to get him back out there for two or three games if he’s not going to be 100 percent.”

Follow Inside The Rangers on SI on Twitter: @SITexasRangers
Like Inside The Rangers on SI on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SITexasRangers
Follow our Rangers insider Chris Halicke on Twitter: @ChrisHalicke