Chris Bassitt didn’t have his best stuff, but the A’s ace doesn’t need his best to get deep into games. He completed seven innings in the A’s 5-1 win over the Texas Rangers in Arlington.
A gritty performance from Bassitt was a catalyst to securing a series split in Texas on the A’s frustrating 3-4 record thus far on this road trip. They’ll look to prevent their first losing road trip into a winning one near home in San Francisco for the Bay Bridge Series starting Friday night.
Bassitt didn’t have his best command on nearly any of his pitches — walking three with four strikeouts — but mixed and matched his expansive six-pitch mix through seven innings to allow just one earned run. Elvis Andrus turned a difficult double play on a back-handed flip to end Bassitt’s final inning and put a bow on his start. Bassitt gave up hard contact twice.
The A’s strung four hits to score three of their five runs in the first inning. Matt Chapman and Matt Olson hit a pair of one-out singles and Ramón Laureano, Chad Pinder and Jed Lowrie combined for three RBI against Rangers starter Kolby Allard.
Lowrie struck again with a solo home run later, his first home run since June 10, to give the A’s a 4-1 lead. They’d tack another on in the seventh inning on Aramis Garcia’s single, Tony Kemp’s seventh double over his last 35 games. A wild pitch by Rangers reliever Josh Sborz scored Garcia.
Kemp replaced Mark Canha in left field for the third inning.
