Daulton Jefferies had a rough first inning in his major league debut Saturday and the A's failed to muster much in the way of offense as their modest three-game winning streak came to an abrupt end.
Jefferies, 25, allowed a three-run home run to Rougned Odor and a two-run homer to Ronald Guzman _ both with two outs _ as the Texas Rangers beat the A's, 5-2, in the first game of a doubleheader at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Catcher Jonah Heim had two of the A's four hits, including an RBI single in the third inning that brought home Vimael Machin.
Matt Olson doubled in the sixth inning to score Tommy La Stella, as the A's played their first game since they announced third baseman Matt Chapman would need surgery on his right hip and miss the rest of the season.
Jefferies pitched a scoreless second inning but was replaced by right-handed reliever Jordan Weems in the bottom of the third with the A's trailing 5-1. Jefferies threw 53 pitches, 34 for strikes. He had one strikeout.
Jefferies struggled with his location in the first inning. He walked both Leody Taveras and Joey Gallo before he faced Odor, whose low line drive off a change-up that caught too much of the plate barely cleared the right-field fence.
Two batters later, after an Elvis Andrus single, Guzman hit an 89.5-mph pitch 431 feet to right field for a 5-0 Rangers lead.
Lou Trivino started to warm up in the bullpen for the A's, but Jefferies was able to induce a pop out from Jeff Mathis to end the inning. The Rangers finished with four hits in the first and added one more hit in the second inning, but did not score.
Jefferies, a former Cal pitcher, was drafted 37th overall by the A's in 2016. Prior to being called up, Jefferies had been at the A's alternate site in San Jose.
A biceps injury during spring training in February set Jefferies back after a promising 2019 in which he'd been named the organization's minor league pitcher of the year.
He had a 10.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio at Single-A Stockton and Double-A Midland, striking out 93 batters in 79 innings while walking only nine.
Weems pitched three perfect innings, recording five strikeouts. Weems returned to the active roster in mid-August after he dealt with a strained right lat, and has since not allowed an earned run in three appearances.
