Athletics-Rangers game postponed after long day of rain

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This article was published 13/04/2019 (2717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Oakland slugger Khris Davis had to wait another day for the chance to homer again against the Texas Rangers, who were rained out at home for the first time in three years.

After a long rainy day in North Texas, officials called Saturday night’s game between the Athletics and Rangers nearly an hour after its scheduled start.

The game will be made up as part of a split day-night doubleheader June 8, on the same day that the Rangers will retire the No. 29 jersey of Adrian Beltre. The ceremony for Beltre, who had 3,166 hits in his 21 big league seasons before retiring last November, will be before the night game. Beltre’s only World Series appearance came in 2011, his first year in Texas.

In the series opener Friday night, Davis hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning of an 8-6 win for the A’s after they overcame a five-run deficit. He has 28 homers against the Rangers since the start of the 2016 season, the most by any player against any team in that span. He has eight homers and 21 RBIs in his last 10 games in Texas.

“He’s just the kind of guy that just wants to be here for his teammates, go out and perform and semi-stay out of the spotlight,” manager Bob Melvin said of Davis, the big league leader with 10 homers this season after an MLB-best 48 last season.

The tarp was put on the field after the series opener in anticipation of the rain.

It did rain most of Saturday, but there was a break in the wet weather during the afternoon before it started raining again about two hours before the planned first pitch. The forecast called for continued more rain deep into the night.

There hadn’t been a postponement at Texas since April, 17, 2016. The Rangers haven’t played a doubleheader at home since Sept. 30, 2012.

Adrian Sampson, who was scheduled to make his first start of the season Saturday night, will start for the Rangers in the finale of the shortened series Sunday.

Left-hander Brett Anderson (3-0) will start Sunday as scheduled for the Athletics. Marco Estrada, who has a career-high six-game losing streak over his last 10 starts since last August, had been slated to start Saturday night.

INJURED Odour

Rangers 2B Rougned Odor was put on the 10-day injured list with a sprained right knee.

Texas announced the move earlier Saturday, a day after Odor was a last-minute scratch from the starting lineup. Odor is expected to be re-evaluated in about two weeks.

Manager Chris Woodward said Odor was hurt inside about 20 minutes before Friday night’s game “stretching in here, doing something, getting ready for the game.”

OLSON RECOVERY

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Melvin said 1B Matt Olson, who is recovering from right hand surgery, is doing everything but swinging a bat with two hands.

“They’re doing strengthening stuff with the hand. Taking groundballs, doing all his conditioning, one-handed stuff in the cage,” Melvin said. “We’d all like to see him back sooner than later. Matt Olson’s a huge part of our team.”

Olson had surgery after the A’s opened the season last month against Seattle at the Tokyo Dome. He felt pain near the centre of palm after fouling off a pitch during an at-bat. He singled during that at-bat, but was replaced in the field after that.

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