Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

The Oakland Athletics lost 112 games last year. The Texas Rangers won the World Series.

With one month left in this season, the teams are much closer in the standings — five games apart in the middle of the American League West — than many likely expected at this point.

For one team, that’s a sign of promise. For the other, not so much, and a reminder of what was.

As the teams get set for the rubber match of their three-game series Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas, the narratives continue.

Leody Taveres’ bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth gave Texas a 3-2 win on Saturday night.

“It’s all about playing hard for nine innings, and we did that,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s our style now. … We like to put up some big numbers, but that really hasn’t happened for the most part this year.”

Texas (64-72) has just 16 runs in its past six games, though it has won four of them. Three of those victories came against the lowly, 31-win White Sox in Chicago. Taveres’ winning knock Saturday was Texas’ only hit of the night with runners in scoring position.

Oakland (59-77), meanwhile, has continued to show more promise and Texas-sized firepower as 2024 has developed, going 22-16 since the All-Star break and hitting 175 homers this season. That’s the fifth-highest total in the majors.

The A’s have won four of their past six games, and Lawrence Butler has led the way.

The 24-year-old outfielder has six homers in the past five games. On Saturday, he hit his 20th of the season, a low liner that traveled 367 feet and just cleared the right-field wall — and left manager Mark Kotsay wowed.

“The way he’s swinging the bat right now, he’s pretty locked in,” Kotsay said postgame. “It doesn’t seem to make a difference if it’s (a) left-handed or right-handed (pitcher). The swing he put on that ball to hit that line drive out of the ballpark was pretty impressive.”

Rookie right-hander Mitch Spence (7-9, 4.54 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound on Sunday for Oakland.

Spence is coming off a no-decision at Cincinnati on Tuesday, when he surrendered one earned run on five hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings but didn’t figure in his team’s 5-4 win. He’s thrown just three career innings against Texas, giving up a run on two hits in a 4-3 win on April 9.

Walter Pennington (0-0, 3.00 ERA), a left-hander, will come out of the bullpen to make his first major league start on Sunday for the Rangers. The rookie tossed one-third of an inning in relief and allowed two hits in Texas’ 9-2 series-opening loss on Friday.

Pennington has made seven appearances this season for Texas, surrendering 10 hits and four runs (three earned) in 8 1/3 innings.

Infielder Justin Foscue and right-hander Chase Anderson joined the Rangers on Saturday from Triple-A Round Rock. Right-hander Dane Dunning was optioned to Triple-A.

The A’s claimed right-handed reliever Janson Junk off waivers on Saturday from the Houston Astros.

–Field Level Media