The Texas Rangers helped the Oakland Athletics say farewell to Major League Baseball on Thursday afternoon.
In many ways, the game was a classic low-scoring, tension-filled matchup between two longtime American League West rivals. The Athletics bid adieu to the Oakland Coliseum, their home since 1968, with a 3-2 victory over the Rangers in the final game played at the 58-year-old stadium.
Oakland closer Mason Miller delivered a perfect final 1 1/3 innings, ending the game by getting Travis Jankowski to ground out to shortstop for the last out.
Once again, the Rangers’ defense let them down. Although the box score reflects only one error, it doesn’t accurately depict the situation. Rookie third baseman Jonathan Ornelas made an errant throw to first on what should have been a routine play to start the bottom of the third inning.
This was ruled an infield hit, and the batter, Jacob Wilson, eventually scored the game’s first run. The A’s tallied two runs in that inning, with two more singles preceding JJ Bleday’s fielder’s choice and Shea Langeliers’ sacrifice fly to left. They extended their lead to 3-0 with a run in the fifth after Wilson reached base on a leadoff single that slipped past Langford in left field, scoring on Bleday’s two-out single. Two batters later, Langford lost track of Bleday’s fly ball in the sun, allowing it to drop.
The Rangers scored twice in the sixth inning after Josh Smith walked, Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia hit singles, and Nathaniel Lowe reached base on an RBI fielder’s choice.
The Rangers concluded with a total of 203 wins at Oakland Coliseum, the highest number for any team. This marked the sixth occasion that the Washington/Texas franchise participated in the last game at a team’s primary ballpark, having previously done so at Arlington Stadium, Globe Life Park, the original Senators’ ballpark, Seattle’s Kingdome, and Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium.