2026 Rangers Fall Short in Third Matchup of the Year Against the Rival Athletics

The Texas Rangers visited Sacramento to take on the Athletics tonight as co-leaders in the American League West, sitting at 9-8 early on this 2026 season. Taking the mound for the Rangers is Kumar Rocker, whose last outing was a decent one against the league’s best, the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that outing, the former ‘Vandy Boy’ pitched five innings, allowing five hits, two of which were home runs, and recording five strikeouts. As a pitcher under the microscope with the Rangers, he fared well against one of the best offenses in the League. This season, the 26-year-old has a 0-1 record, a 4.50 ERA, and has allowed a .275 batting average against opponents. For the A’s, right-hander J.T. Ginn takes the mound. Ginn is seeking his first win of the season and has had a great start. In 12 innings pitched, he carries a 3.00 ERA with nine strikeouts on the season, and is only allowing a .171 batting average against opponents. The game finished dramatically with late-game heroics from the Rangers, but they fell just short, losing their second straight game, 6-5. 

To begin the game, Ginn made light work of the first three Ranger batters, as Brandon Nimmo grounded out, Corey Seager struck out on three pitches, and Wyatt Langford flew out to center. On the other hand, the A’s did a great job putting early pressure on Rocker, getting out to an early lead, scoring one on a Tyler Soderstrom double that scored Carlos Cortes. The A’s were able to get Rocker to 20 pitches in the bottom of the first, and that’ll be something Rangers fans keep an eye on, as if that trend continues, the Rangers will quickly look to the bullpen, which is now depleted as Chris Martin and Luis Curvelo were both put on the 15-Day IL; Curvelo suffered a right bicep strain and Martin suffering a right shoulder impingement.

In the top of the second, the Rangers were looking to strike back, but their efforts were to no avail. The inning started with an Evan Carter walk, followed by a strikeout to Joc Pederson, who has been on a heater as of late, putting his early-season woes in the distant past. Then, Ginn walked Josh Jung on a four-pitch walk and walked Josh Smith, but with Danny Jansen to the plate, he chased a sinker low and in and ended up grounding into a double play. Even though the Rangers couldn’t get anything across home plate, they were able to get Ginn’s pitch count higher than the A’s wanted, sitting at 35 going into the third. The bottom of the second was something Rocker wished he didn’t have to endure. He allowed the first runner on base in the inning as he hit Max Muncy on a slider very up and in, then allowed Denzel Clarke to scorch one past Jung, scoring Muncy, walked young phenom Nick Kurtz, and thankfully was able to get Shane Langeliers to ground out to third before the A’s could do too much damage. Rocker ended that inning with his pitch count just a skosh under 50, sitting at 46 pitches. 

The top of the third was a booming start for the Rangers, as Seager blasted a 410-foot moonshot to right-center field at a scorching 108 MPH, scoring himself and the before-walked Nimmo. The Rangers were able to get Ginn’s pitch count up to 51. The bottom of the third went more smoothly for Rocker, as the righty only allowed one hit to Jacob Wilson, and ended up giving the A’s their first goose egg of the game. Rocker was having a slight command issue, as he had given up three walks to that point, but somehow, someway, found a way out of the inning. 

The top of the fourth inning wasn’t much to talk about for the Rangers as Ginn was able to retire the Rangers' batters in 14 pitches, sitting at 64, in one-two-three fashion. The bottom of the fourth was a great refresher for Rocker, as he struck out Lawerence Butler, Clarke, and Kurtz. His pitch count was something to keep an eye on, sitting at 81, and see if he’d be available for the fifth and sixth innings. The top of the fifth was boring and quick again for the Rangers as they fell victim to yet another one-two-three inning, and even quicker than the last inning for Ginn as he was able to send the Rangers back into the dugout in nine pitches. Manager Skip Schumaker decided to send Rocker back to the mound for the bottom of the fifth to allow his relievers some more time to warm up and keep the game close, but Langeliers had other ideas. He started the half-inning with a double to left field, yet again putting that early pressure on Rocker.

At 93 pitches, Rocker got his mound visit with two runners on base for the A’s to assess the game plan for how he can get out of the inning without letting the A’s offense deal more damage on the scoreboard. Rocker had a tough matchup against Wilson, but at pitch 97 of the night, he was able to get him out on a 95 MPH lineout to Ezequiel Duran, and that ended his night. Rocker’s stat line for the night was 4.2 innings pitched, allowing four hits, two earned runs, six strikeouts, but allowed four walks. That was more of the bigger issue for the up-and-coming pitcher, as his command was all over the place, but still limited the damage to two runs. Jalen Beeks came in in relief of Rocker with two outs on the board, and had a great matchup against Muncy, and came out on top. On eight pitches, Beeks was able to get Muncy swinging on a fastball just elevated above the strike zone and slightly in, getting the Rangers out of a bases-loaded jam.

The top of the sixth started with a soft roller to Ginn from Seager for the first out, but Langford was able to get a base hit down the first base line against the shift for the first runner on base for the Rangers in what seemed like eternity, and that was the hit that got Ginn out of the game. Ginn had an impressive game, holding the Rangers to just two hits, one being the Seager homerun back in the third inning, in 5.1 innings. He finished with four walks, three strikeouts, and two earned runs. Hogan Harris came in relief for Ginn and got Carter to fly out on seven pitches. The Rangers felt the need to get someone in the batter's box who could produce, and the red-hot Jake Burger was called up, who has a .246 batting average so far this season, but wasn’t able to get it done and struck out on four pitches.

The bottom of the sixth was easy work for Beeks as he allowed a single to Butler, but got two quick outs on a sacrifice bunt from Clarke and a three-pitch strikeout to Kurtz, and then got pulled. The Rangers quickly regretted that decision as Cole Winn was called upon the mound, but in four pitches, Winn surrendered the lead after throwing a sinker up and in the strike zone to Langeliers, and all that can be said is that the ball had a family. Langeliers hit a moonshot to left-center, carrying it 467 feet, the longest home run in MLB this season, to give the A’s a 4-2 lead. Winn had to fight for the last out of the inning as it took ten pitches to get Cortes out on a swinging strikeout. 

Here comes the top of the seventh, and here comes another goose egg inning for the Rangers. Against new pitcher Scott Barlow, Jung and Smith both flew out, but Jansen was able to get his team their third hit of the game. With a runner on first, Duran was up but couldn’t do much against Barlow, who carried a 4.70 ERA, and struck out looking on a curve that was right down Broadway. Winn went back out there for the Rangers in the bottom of the seventh, hoping to get some good work out of him and keep the game within two, but couldn’t do just that.

Wilson was able to get a hold of a 93 MPH fastball and send it towering to left field, scoring himself and Soderstrom, making the score 6-2. Winn didn’t have the best outing today, and he was relieved by Gavin Collyer, who made his big league debut. Winn finished with a line of one inning pitched, giving up two hits, three earned runs, two strikeouts, and a walk. Collyer was able to close the book on Butler as he sat him down on a 97 MPH heater up in the zone, leaving him frozen and wrapping up his first big league strikeout. The top of the eighth was a breath of fresh air for the Rangers' offense as they finally got some production going. With two outs from Mark Leiter Jr, Burger got his third home run of the series with a 408-foot blast to left field, scoring himself, Seager, and Langford, making the score 6-5.

In the bottom of the eighth, Jacob Latz came in for Collyer and got right to work, getting ground ball outs from Clarke and Kurtz, and then got Langeliers out on a dribbler that he threw to first himself to get the third out. Smith, Jansen, and Duran got their shot against Joel Kuhnel, and Smith was the first victim to fall to Kuhnel on a nasty changeup that ended up in the dirt for the first out. Jansen got his chance, and after a foul ball that ricocheted off the wall and hit the ball boy in the nose, he popped up and out for the second out of the inning. Schumaker ended up putting in the right-handed veteran Andrew McCutchen to keep the game alive, but he fell victim to a vicious sinker that struck him out, and ended the game. 

Tonight’s game didn’t feel as close as the scoreboard shows it was. The Rangers' offense was sluggish except for the two home runs from Seager and Burger, and multiple quick innings allowed Ginn and the relievers to get to work as they were able to limit the Rangers to five hits. For the Rangers’ pitching, it could’ve been better. Rocker did what he could to keep the game close, which it was for two innings as it was tied 2-2 until he was pulled, but Winn let the A’s open the door of opportunity and get the runs needed to win the game 6-5. The offense had opportunities, taking walks to get runners on base, but they only left four on base, as there were more groundouts and flyouts than usual. Texas’ batters were anemic in terms of getting balls in play, and they’ll look to see if key players like Smith, Carter, and Nimmo can get hits, as they were some of the players who went hitless tonight. After tonight's game, the Rangers are back to .500 at 9-9, and the A’s are now two games above .500 at 10-8, who now have won two in a row and have a one-game lead in the AL West. The Rangers look to even the series today at 2:05 pm CT, with Jack Leiter projected to start for the Rangers and Jacob Lopez probable for the Athletics.