Mike Napoli sparks as Texas Rangers defeat Oakland Athletics 8-5 – MLB Update
Texas Rangers’ first baseman, Mike Napoli was impressive with the bat as he had four RBIs and went 3-for-4 with an average of .237 in the Rangers’ 8-5 win against the Oakland Athletics at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas on July 8.
The Rangers had an amazing start as they scored five quick runs during the first inning to take an initial 5-0 lead. Adrian Beltre saved at first base on the error of the Athletics’ short-stop Adam Rosales and Elvis Andrus posted a single run. Napoli hit
a solo homer (410 feet) towards left-field while Josh Hamilton, Beltre and Michael Young each singled off the right field to complete a five-run campaign.
The Athletics got their initial run during the second inning when Scott Sizemore homered (384 feet) towards left-field to reduce his team’s lead. On the other side, the Rangers led off with 7-1 at the bottom of the second inning when Ian Kinsler struck a
one-run homer (421 feet) towards left-field and Beltre homered (391 feet) to left-field.
Third inning was in favour of the pitchers as they tossed the curveballs with a mix-up of fastballs. C.J. Wilson was little bit shaky as he gave up four runs on five hits with four earned runs in his seven inning pitches and allowed three walks with an ERA
of 3.20. Wilson struck-out eight batters on his 102 pitches.
The Athletics’ batters took their second run during the fourth inning to cut their deficit 7-2 when Conor Jackson hit a grounder towards short-stop and Coco Crisp posted a single run in the fifth inning, Napoli added one run on the drive of Yorvit Torrealba
towards centre-field to move the score-board 8-2.
Crisp reached towards short-stop on an infield single and David DeJesus scored one run for the Athletics at the top of the sixth inning. The second run was taken by Crisp when Josh Willingham doubled off deep left-field to further reduce their lead 8-4.
In the seventh and eighth inning, the score-board remained still as the batters were unable to make runs.
Jackson added the last run for the Athletics during the ninth inning but the Rangers ended the game with a 8-5 lead. The Rangers sealed a victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series at Texas.
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