For awhile, it looked like the Rangers might actually win two in a row against the A's, but then it didn't happen. Some thoughts:

A J.P. Arencibia single scored Jim Adduci in the bottom of the 4th inning. It looked like perhaps, if the game could get to the bullpen, the Rangers might be able to hold on.

Then, however, Nick Tepesch proceeded to give up two straight home runs to John Jaso and Yoenis Cespedes in the bottom of the 6th inning.

To make matters worse, Tepesch exited in the bottom of the 7th inning during the middle of a Josh Donaldson at-bat due to some sort of knee soreness. So it's entirely likely that we've seen the last of Tepesch during this 2014 campaign. I could be wrong, of course, but that's just the way this season has gone.

Nate Adcock made his Rangers debut in relief of Tepesch, and gave up home runs to Josh Donaldson and Josh Reddick. At that point, the score was 5-1, which ended up being the final margin.

In the bottom of the 9th inning, there were a couple of interesting moves. Leonys Martin was pinch-hit for by Daniel Robertson, and Rougned Odor was pinch-hit for by Adam Rosales. It's a lost season, and was almost certainly a lost game. For Martin, the fact that Wash pulled him against the lefty reliever Doolittle would seem to lend some sort of evidence to what the manager thinks of his center fielder at this point. For Odor, I'm not too sure why you don't let the rookie give it a shot there. Other than to give Rosales and his flyswatter-sized bat a chance with 2 outs, it didn't make a whole lot of sense when you can give Odor some extra experience against a left-handed pitcher.

Still a game behind Houston in the standings, so that #1 overall pick next June is looking good so far.

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The Rangers are 41-63