A's top Rangers 6-4, win 5th straight behind Olson's 2 HRs

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Matt Olson homered twice, Ramon Laureano also went deep and the Oakland Athletics rallied to beat the Texas Rangers 6-4 on Wednesday night.

Austin Allen hit his first career homer, a go-ahead, two-run drive in the seventh inning, as the A’s stunned the Rangers late for a second consecutive night and won their fifth straight. On Tuesday, Stephen Piscotty hit a walk-off grand slam in Oakland’s 5-1 win.

Shin-Soo Choo homered on the game’s first pitch for the second time in six days for the Rangers. Todd Frazier had a pair of singles and Nick Solak added an RBI double. Joey Gallo struck out four times.

Texas (3-7) is off to its worst start since 2006.

Olson hit a two-run homer off Rangers starter Kyle Gibson in the first, then added a solo shot off Luke Farrell in the eighth.

Allen, who played sparingly for the Padres last year, had the big hit with his two-run homer off Ian Gibaut (0-1) in the seventh. That put the A’s ahead 5-4 and snapped a 1-for-13 funk for Oakland’s young catcher.

T.J. McFarland (1-0) retired two batters to win. Joakim Soria pitched 1 2/3 innings for his second save.

Choo hit an opposite-field homer on Sean Manaea’s first pitch. The Rangers' leadoff batter did the same thing to San Francisco’s Logan Webb on Friday.

It’s also nothing new for Choo. He has 36th career leadoff home runs, including nine on the game’s first pitch. Choo’s four leadoff homers at the Oakland Coliseum are the most by an opposing hitter.

Gibson had nine strikeouts in six innings for the Rangers. He gave up four hits and three runs while pitching on seven days of rest.

Manaea allowed four runs and six hits. The left-hander also walked a batter for the first time in his three starts.

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source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/A-s-top-Rangers-6-4-win-5th-straight-behind-15462812.php