ARLINGTON, Texas — Oakland A’s right-hander Mason Miller might have established himself as one of the American League’s premier closers during the first five months of the regular season.
But his September got off to a rough start.
Josh Jung hit a three-run homer off Miller in the 10th inning to lead the Texas Rangers past the A’s 6-4 on Sunday.
The loss marked the second straight time a walk-off hit bit the A’s, as Leody Taveras hit a game-ending single with one out in the ninth inning in the Rangers’ 3-2 win over Oakland on Saturday.
Texas has won in walk-off fashion five times in their six home wins since Aug. 5.
Miller (1-2), the winning pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game in Texas this summer, worked a scoreless ninth and got the first two outs in the 10th before Adolis García hit a 2-2 slider for an RBI single and Wyatt Langford walked after fouling off four pitches.
Jung then drove a 101.7 mph fastball from Miller the opposite way and just inside the right-field pole for his fifth homer.
“For some reason, Langford always seems to be able to get to my fastball fouled off,” Miller said. “And then during that at-bat (vs. Jung), I kind of lost the feel for my slider, which pretty much allowed him to eliminate that pitch and just sit on the fastball.”
Jung, in only his 28th game since missing 102 because of a fractured right wrist, wasn’t sure the ball was gone until it landed just a couple of rows deep.
“It’s a positive thing; it puts things in the right direction,” said Jung, who still lamented missing an RBI chance earlier in the game. “I went out there and started over-swinging again, felt like I just fixed that the other day. So being able to not lunge at 100 (mph) and be able to turn it around is big for me.”
Oakland had gone ahead in the 10th against Matt Festa (3-1), who struck out his first two batters before Seth Brown hit a tiebreaking RBI triple and Zack Gelof followed with a double.
Miller, who hadn’t pitched since Wednesday, threw 34 pitches in his 1 2/3 innings as the A’s closed their road trip with a 3-3 record. Their one loss in a three-game series against Cincinnati on Thursday also came via the walk-off, as TJ Friedl capped a three-run ninth inning with a two-run single in a 10-9 Reds win.
Miller entered Sunday with a 1-1 record this season with a 2.08 ERA in 52 innings over 44 games. His 23 saves were tied for sixth most in the AL.
“That last at-bat of the game is a fastball up and in. Jung got the barrel to it, and it goes out to the right field,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “So a tough way to lose. But we had the right guy on the mound, and it just didn’t go our way today.”
Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker each had four hits for the A’s (59-78), who had runners at first and third in the ninth before Shea Langeliers grounded into an inning-ending double play. Oakland had 16 hits and left 11 runners on base.
Corey Seager hit a one-out double in the first for Texas (65-72) and scored on a double by García, who entered in a 6-for-40 slide over his previous 11 games. García added another double leading off the sixth when the Rangers loaded the bases without scoring.
The Rangers are now 9 1/2 games out of the third and final wild-card spot in the AL, but they stayed with it to win the series over Oakland.
“They keep fighting, so that’s what I have to say about them,” said Bruce Bochy, who matched Bucky Harris for eighth on the manager wins list with No. 2,158. “You get down two there (in) extra innings, you’ve got your hands full with one of the best closers in the game.”
With MLB rosters expanding by two to 28 on Sunday, the A’s recalled INF Tristan Gray from Triple-A Las Vegas and added Janson Junk, whom they got on a waiver claim from Houston on Saturday. Texas recalled RHP Owen White and INF Jonathan Ornelas from Triple-A Round Rock.
Athletics: RHP Osvaldo Bido (5-3, 3.21 ERA), who is 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA in his last four starts, is scheduled to pitch in their homestand opener against Seattle on Monday.
