Texas Rangers Magic Number Falls to 2 as A’s Beat Rangers

The Texas Rangers fell to the Oakland A's 4-3 yesterday at the Oakland Coliseum.

Coco Crisp hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning to push the A's over the Rangers to avoid a series sweep.

The reigning AL champion Rangers began the day with a magic number of three to clinch their second straight AL West crown. The Angels lost to Toronto Thursday night and the dropped the Rangers magic number to 2.

"We came here to win the series and we did that," Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre told MLB.com. "We're going home to win a series, and if we do that, we're in pretty good shape. We would have rather won the game today, but we didn't play well enough to win. Obviously the more games we win the easier it is, but it just didn't happen today."

"They just beat us today," manager Ron Washington told MLB.com. "Last night we got their guy, today they got our guy. It is the way it is. You'd like to win every game, but we were playing against another Major League team and we won two of them. You would like to sweep, but it didn't happen. We've got to keep winning games and winning series. It will happen."

Grant Balfour (5-2) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the win, then Andrew Bailey finished for his 21st save in 23 chances as the A's snapped Texas' four-game winning streak and handed the Rangers just their second loss in 10 games.

Pinch-hitter Scott Sizemore hit a tying RBI groundout in the seventh against Darren Oliver. Crisp's hit came against Mike Adams (1-3) and helped stop a three-game skid.

Information from the Associated Press used in this report