Texas Caps Off Huge Comeback Against Athletics

Phil Nevin homered with two outs in the ninth as Texas completed an improbable comeback to beat Oakland, 8-7, in the opener of a four-game set at Ameriquest Field. Trailing 7-0 in the sixth, the Rangers staged a furious rally over the last four innings to win the game. With two outs and Hank Blalock on first in the sixth, Kevin Mench singled and Mark DeRosa walked to load the bases for Rod Barajas, who slammed an 0-2 fastball from Oakland starting pitcher Brad Halsey deep to left field. Steve Karsay was called in to relieve Halsey, but he was greeted by the recently activated Ian Kinsler, who homered to left. In the seventh, Mark Teixeira led off the inning with a homer to right field to bring the Rangers within a run. In the eighth, Oakland almost took a two-run lead when Bobby Kielty doubled to left field with Adam Melhuse on first base. Melhuse attempted to score, but Michael Young`s relay throw to home was on point and Barajas made a diving tag on Melhuse to save the run. Texas made the A`s pay as Kinsler`s second homer of the game in the bottom of the inning tied the game at seven. Oakland closer Huston Street (1-2) entered the game in the ninth and made quick work of Teixeira and Blalock before Nevin crushed the second pitch he saw to deep center field to give Texas the victory. Kinsler, who was activated off the 15-day disabled list before the game, finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored for the Rangers, who ended a brief two- game losing streak. Kevin Millwood had a terrible outing for Texas, yielding seven runs on nine hits through five innings of work. Akinori Otsuka (1-1) threw a scoreless ninth for his first win of the season. Nick Swisher hit a two-run home run and scored three runs for the A`s, who lost their sixth game in a row. Kielty drove in two runs and Mark Kotsay hit a solo home run. Halsey yielded four runs on six hits through 5 2/3 innings. The A`s scored three runs in the top of the second inning to take the early lead. Eric Chavez led off the inning with a double and scored off Frank Thomas` single to center. Swisher followed with a double to right field and, one out later, Kielty sent both Thomas and Swisher home with a double to the left field wall to give Oakland a 3-0 lead. After Dan Johnson`s two-out RBI single in the fourth gave the A`s a four-run advantage, Oakland went deep twice in the fifth to take a 7-0 lead. Kotsay led off the inning with his fourth home run of the year. Then, after Bobby Crosby and Chavez struck out, Thomas hit a sharp single to left. Swisher stepped to the plate and crushed his 14th homer of the season to right field to make it a seven-run game.