ARLINGTON, Texas – The Oakland bullpen may have had worse weekends, but in the wake of Sunday’s 6-4 loss to the Rangers, none come readily to mind.
In the space of three days, the A’s had a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning and two 4- 2 leads in the seventh inning, couldn’t hold any of them, lost all three games. Oakland fell from third place to last place in the American League West in the process.
Ryan Madson, who hadn’t pitched in either of the first two games, had his first pitch in relief of Kendall Graveman ripped for a game-tying double by Elvis Andrus and shortly thereafter saw Nomar Mazara deliver a go-ahead single.