Rangers setup man Mike Adams had allowed one homer in 51 2/3 innings this season until suddenly giving up three to the five A’s hitters he faced today.
Fortunately for Adams, the Rangers had a 9-4 cushion when he entered and they went on to win 9-7 to split a four-game series with the A’s.
Texas jumped out to a 5-0 lead in a first inning that featured homers from Ian Kinsler and Mike Napoli and then withstood Oakland’s change. Josh Reddick homered twice for the A’s, and Derek Norris, Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Moss homered once apiece.
For Moss, it was his 20th homer in 246 at-bats this season. He’s gotten increased playing time of late, so he won’t become the seventh player in big-league history to finish a season with 20 homers and fewer than 250 at-bats. However, he will be the 30th player to have done it in less than 300 at-bats.
With Moss joining Reddick and Cespedes, the A’s now have three 20-homer guys, matching their total from the previous four seasons combines. They went without a 20-homer guy in 2010, and they had just one player get there in 2008 (Jack Cust), 2009 (Cust) and 2011 (Josh Willingham).