AL West Standings and Results: Athletics Defeat Rangers, Pull Three Games Behind Texas

Once again a reason why Major League Baseball did not need an extra spot in the Wild Card, the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics are now only separated by three games in the AL West. 

The A's put a hurting on the Rangers after defeating them 9-3 Wednesday evening in Arlington Ballpark.

All the A's really needed was the first inning when they posted five runs. Jarrod Parker gave up three runs on five hits and three walks. He went six innings and struck out eight.

For Martin Perez, however, it was a nightmare. He probably threw more pitches in warmups than he did in this game as he gave up five runs over just .2 innings pitched. That will surely balloon anybody's ERA.

The strikeout totals were high for the A's as they fanned 11 times during the game and broke the American League record with their 1,325 strikeout of the year. Chris Carter was responsible for that trivial piece of history.

The good news for the A's is that they did not need a home run to score a run as they did it purely by manufacturing and hustling. 

Shortstop Stephen Drew went 4-5 with a run and two RBI. Yoenis Cespedes finished just 1-5, but that his was an RBI triple that sent Drew home for the first run of the game.

The A's did a great job silencing Josh Hamilton's and Nelson Cruz's bat in the middle of the lineup as they held both of the sluggers 0-7 with three strikeouts and a walk. 

Things will get interesting tomorrow as the A's will send Travis Blackley (5-3, 3.48 ERA) to the mound to face the Rangers' lefty Matt Harrison (17-10, 3.17). 

Stay with us and we will bring you results from that game as the AL West race has tightened up. 

Here are the top standings in the AL West. The Angels are 5.5 back. They will truly need a miracle to get back into this race.