31-48 - Rangers exorcise Coliseum demons with 5-4 win over A’s

The Texas Rangers scored five runs and the Oakland Athletics scored four runs.

Of all the buildings in Major League Baseball, perhaps the one that has most vexed the Rangers over their stay in Arlington has been the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, or the Network Associates Coliseum, or the McAfee Coliseum, or the Overstock.com Coliseum, or the O.co, or the RingCentral Coliseum or whatever you want to call the Oakland Coliseum.

The Rangers have gone whole road trips out West dreading their inevitable opportunity to get swept miserably at Al Davis’ hijacked football stadium by the 880.

At points tonight, it looked like the house of horrors would consume the Rangers once again as they trailed 1-0 after the first inning and then 2-1 after four innings. But Joey Gallo has lived through the age of Internet comments while sporting a high strikeout percentage and a low batting average. Nothing is going to bother that guy.

Tonight, Gallo tied the game with a solo home run in the top of the fourth and gave the Rangers the lead with another solo shot in the top of the sixth.

The Rangers got good pitching, too. Perhaps surprisingly starter Mike Foltynewicz was able to keep things together tonight. After a first inning home run, Folty settled in and allowed just one more run on four hits total, a walk, and six strikeouts.

The seven-inning outing tied Folty’s high-water mark for the season and his six Ks were bested only by the seven he collected in his first outing back in April.

Staked to a 3-2 lead, the Rangers’ bullpen held on with Joely Rodriguez tossing a scoreless eighth while Ian Kennedy enjoyed the insurance runs that Nick Solak’s two-run ninth inning home run provided to the fullest as he allowed a couple of solo home runs to make it a one-run game and gave the Coliseum ghosts permission to start creeping back in before he shut the door with Elvis Andrus dancing around as the tying run on base.

With the victory, the Rangers have won five or six and have their first four-game winning streak of the season.

Player of the Game: Props to Folty for enjoying one of his more competent outings as a member of the Rangers but tonight, like most nights of late, belonged to Gallo.

The Rangers’ gold glove right fielder went deep twice — again — and eventually the A’s had seen enough and just gave him a free pass in his final appearance to pad to his sport-leading walk total.

Gallo has smacked five dingers in his last three games and seven in his last nine. Get thee to Coors Field.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s will reconvene in the East Bay to close out June with LHP Kolby Allard next in line to take the mound for Texas against RHP Chris Bassitt for Oakland. Wednesday night’s first pitch from the Coliseum is scheduled for 8:40 pm CT.