Rangers Lose Series to Athletics, Drop Sixth Game in Last Eight

The Texas Rangers have now dropped six of their last eight games as they fell to the Athletics, 5-2.

Fresh off a 5-3 victory, the Rangers failed to win the series as they lost the series finale by three runs.

In total, that marks two straight series losses, but more importantly, going just 2-5 in this West Coast stretch.

Texas has a much-needed off day on Monday, Aug. 17, but from there it's a crucial stretch of nine straight games, six of which at home, before heading to Milwaukee from August 28-30 to play one of, if not the best team in all of baseball.

The Rangers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but Cody Bradford's lone two runs allowed came in the bottom half of the second.

Bradford, who went four innings and allowed eight hits, kept the Rangers in the game early. Texas scored a second run to tie things up through three, but then the Athletics scored a pair in the seventh and one more in the eighth.

Jakob Junis took just his second loss of the year as he was picked apart for a pair of runs on two hits in his inning of work. The 33-year-old needed nearly 20 pitches to get out of his inning, but he allowed a crucial home run that proved to be the difference.

It's not like the Rangers offense was able to get themselves back into the game, but they had even more of an uphill battle to climb as Peyton Gray was pulled after recording just one out. Gray allowed three hits, one of which was a homer, and was pulled for Cole Winn, who recorded two outs in just three pitches.

For as bad as this Rangers team has been lately, it's not like a division title is out of the question. The Houston Astros remain the division leaders, but they only have a 2.5-game lead on Texas.

No team in the AL West has won more than five of their last 10 games. It's been a rough stretch for everyone, and that greatly benefits the Rangers.

At this point, the Rangers are hoping their next off day can help get everyone back on track. This team feels like they should be much better than 61-64, but at the very least, they're only 0.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot.