31-27 - Rangers throw shade at Sonny Gray, beat rival A's

For the first time in over 25+ innings dating back to last season, the Rangers finally scored a run off of Sonny Gray. Gray had allowed just ten runs in his career against Texas in eight starts. This season, in 14 2/3 innings, Gray had not allowed the Rangers to score and had given up only three hits.

Tonight, the Rangers got to Gray for two runs. It felt like a dozen. The Rangers collected eight hits off of Gray. It felt like a hundred.

In the other dugout, the A's had the misfortune of having to face Ace Nick Martinez. Knowing he couldn't make a mistake with Gray on the mound, Martinez...well, he made a few mistakes that gave the A's some opportunities to score but the A's offended the RISP Gods by sacrificing Josh Donaldson so Martinez came out unscathed after six innings of one-hit ball.

Oh yeah, the Rangers are now only two games back of sliding Houston in the AL West and only one game back in the loss column.

Player of the Game: Ace Martinez was probably the player of the game. He out-dueled Sonny Gray, after all. But Mitch Moreland was my Player to Watch in the Series Preview so yes I will take this opportunity to crow about the fact that Mitch obliterated a ball to dead center off of Gray to give the Rangers their second run and the bullpen some breathing room that they would ultimately need.