Texas @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2011 ) Texas 3, Oakland 2

THE STORY: The Texas Rangers have a five-game lead in the American League West with seven games to play as they enter Thursday’s contest against the Oakland Athletics. Texas rallied for a 3-2 victory on Wednesday to reduce its magic number to three and has a solid chance of turning next week’s series with the Los Angeles Angels into three meaningless games. The Rangers host the last-place Seattle Mariners for three games beginning Friday. Colby Lewis starts Thursday’s contest and is 4-0 against the Athletics this season. Oakland has lost six of its last eight games.

TV: 3:35 p.m. ET, FSH (Texas), CSCA (Oakland).

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Colby Lewis (13-10, 4.45 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Trevor Cahill (11-14, 4.31 ERA).

Lewis has won his last two starts despite allowing nine runs in 13 innings. He defeated Seattle in his last outing even though he gave up six runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Lewis has given up an AL-leading 34 homers, the second most in the majors behind Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo. He has a 2.83 ERA in five starts this season against Oakland and is 7-3 with a 3.17 ERA in 17 career appearances (15 starts) against the Athletics. Josh Willingham is hitting .313 with three homers in 16 career at-bats against Lewis.

Cahill has always fared well against Texas in his three seasons. He is 3-2 with a 2.91 ERA in five starts this season and 9-4 with a 2.69 ERA in 14 career outings against the Rangers. Cahill defeated Texas on Sept. 10 when he gave up five runs in five innings. He lost to Detroit in his last start when he gave up three runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings. Adrian Beltre is batting .348 with two homers in 23 career at-bats against Cahill.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (90-65): Texas has matched last season’s victory total, a season that ended with the Rangers losing to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Josh Hamilton hit the tiebreaking homer in the eighth as the Rangers improved their record against Oakland to 13-5. Ian Kinsler hit a game-tying homer in the eighth that was his ninth of the month and 30th of the season. Kinsler’s career-high for homers is 31 in 2009. He also became the first AL second baseman to ever have 30 homers, 30 doubles, 100 runs scored and 80 walks in the same campaign. Elvis Andrus went hitless in four at-bats to end a 13-game hitting streak.

ABOUT THE ATHLETICS (69-86): Oakland has lost three straight games while scoring just four runs. Jemile Weeks went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Wednesday’s loss and is batting .300 in September. Weeks was thrown out stealing for the 11th time in 32 attempts and is just 1-of-4 in September. Brandon Allen singled in Oakland’s other run and is batting .150 this month. He has struck out 28 times in 60 September at-bats. Willingham is 0-for-9 over the last three games and remains eight RBIs shy of his first 100-RBI season. Coco Crisp was hitless in four at-bats to end a modest five-game hitting streak.

FINAL PITCH: “The communication between me and Bob, I talk to him more times in a day than I talk to my wife. It’s really a stimulating relationship. Bob has so much to offer. He’s got great ideas. We agree on a lot of things and I think we have an idea what it takes to put together a good club moving forward.” – Athletics manager Billy Beane on manager Bob Melvin, who officially agreed to a three-year contract Wednesday.