Texas starter C.J. Wilson has never won 16 games in a game series versus the Oakland Athletics at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Wilson went 15-8 in 33 starts a year ago and is 15-6 with a 3.13 earned run average in 30 starts so far this season. Wilson has won two straight and five of his last six starts, including Tuesday's 8-0 blanking of Tampa Bay in which he posted the first shutout of his career.
The lefty went the distance for the third time this season and sixth time in his career, holding the Rays to five hits with six strikeouts and three walks. Wilson is 7-2 in 15 home starts this season, but only 4-5 in 35 games (6 starts) lifetime against the A's. Wilson defeated Oakland on Aug. 12 in a 9-1 verdict, allowing one run in six frames with seven K's.
Texas has been lacking consistency lately, having alternated wins and losses over its last eight games, and saw its lead atop the American League West standings dwindle to 1 1/2 games ahead of the LA Angels of Anaheim with Saturday's 8-7 loss to the A's.
Adrian Beltre finished with three hits, including a home run, and two RBI, while Michael Young went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in for the Rangers. Ian Kinsler had two hits and two runs scored in defeat.
"We played hard," Young said on the club's site. "I wish we could have had a different outcome. But we played hard and gave it everything we had. We scratched and clawed to push some runs across and got runners on base at the end."
Rangers starter Alexi Ogando, in his first start since August 31 and against Oakland, allowed five runs -- three earned -- over five-plus innings to suffer the loss. Yoshinori Tateyama served up a grand slam in the sixth inning, as Scott Sizemore went deep in a pinch-hitting role.
"It was awesome," said Sizemore. "That was my first big league grand slam. To be a pinch-hit one and to give us the lead, that was even more special."
Athletics Trevor Cahill lasted five-plus innings, allowing five runs on seven hits to earn the win. He walked two and struck out three batters.
Ryan Sweeney went 2-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBI for the A's, who had lost three of their previous four games and rebounded from Friday's 13-4 loss in the series opener.
Toeing the rubber for the Athletics today will be Josh Outman, who is 3-4 with a 3.23 ERA in 11 games, eight of which have been starts, this season. He has lost his last three decisions and threw a scoreless inning of relief in last Sunday's 8-5 win over Seattle.
Outman, a left-hander, is 1-3 on the road this season and 1-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three career starts against the Rangers.
The Rangers are 10-5 against Oakland this season and had won nine in a row in this series. Texas is 6-2 against Oakland at the Ballpark in Arlington.