The Texas Rangers had an enjoyable time against the Athletics in the series opener.
They look to post their fifth straight win against their American League West rivals when the teams meet Tuesday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
Texas dominated this season’s first clash, 8-1 on Monday in the opener of the four-game series. The Rangers won the final three meetings in 2025.
“It was a really good start to what is going to be a really tough series,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said of Monday’s convincing win.
Jake Burger had two homers and four RBIs and the Rangers had 11 hits overall while winning for the fifth time in the past seven games.
The two-homer game was the eighth of Burger’s career. Both blasts came against Luis Severino, giving Burger four career homers versus the right-hander.
“I saw the ball well. I felt really good,” Burger said. “… He got two pitches up in the zone I could do something with.”
Burger, who turned 30 on Friday, is a guy Texas is counting on despite him hitting just 16 homers in 103 games last season.
In 2024, he hit 29 homers in 137 games for the Miami Marlins, who were managed by Schumaker.
“This is the Jake Burger that I’m used to,” said Schumaker, who also managed Burger for the final two months of the 2023 season. “He has as good of pop as anyone in the major leagues. He can hit it to all fields like he did (Monday night). Good to see him use the opposite field.”
The Athletics had just five hits Monday while seeing a five-game winning streak halted. Lawrence Butler homered in the eighth inning for the lone run.
The A’s had just three hits in seven innings against Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.
“He had a great mix and kept us off-balance,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He did a nice job.”
Athletics third baseman Max Muncy sustained a bruised left hand when hit by a pitch in the fifth inning. He was replaced in the field by Darell Hernaiz at the top of the seventh.
“He’ll be day-to-day based on the X-rays came back negative and that’s something positive for now for us,” Kotsay said of Muncy.
Left-handers MacKenzie Gore (2-0, 2.76 ERA) of the Rangers and Jeffrey Springs (2-0, 1.47) of the Athletics square off Tuesday.
Acquired in the offseason from the Washington Nationals, Gore has started strong with 25 strikeouts and just nine hits allowed in 16 1/3 innings.
Gore, 27, beat the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday when he struck out nine and allowed one hit over five scoreless innings.
Gore is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two career starts against the Athletics. Last August with Washington, he was torched for eight runs and 12 hits over three-plus innings while losing 16-7 to the A’s.
Hernaiz (3-for-4) and Shea Langeliers (2-for-5) have each homered off Gore while Jeff McNeil was a scorching 8-for-12 against Gore when both players were in the National League.
Springs (2-0, 1.47) had a no-hitter with one out in the seventh against the New York Yankees last Thursday before allowing a single to Ben Rice. He got the next two hitters out before being pulled. He struck out six and walked two in the 1-0 victory.
Springs has allowed just eight hits in 18 1/3 innings this season. He has fanned 15.
Springs is 2-1 with a 2.55 ERA in seven appearances (four starts) against the Rangers. Last season, he went 1-1 with a 2.31 ERA in two outings.
Josh Jung (4-for-9) and Corey Seager (2-for-6) have homered against Springs.
–Field Level Media
