Ross Stripling, the A’s starter, was roughed up in the Rangers game.

The Texas Rangers defeated the Oakland Athletics 6-2 on Wednesday.

The Texas Rangers defeated the Oakland A’s 6-2 on Wednesday night. The A’s now stand in fourth place in the AL West after the loss, dropping them to 4-8 on the season.

Ross Stripling, the starter, had a difficult effort; in six innings, he gave up six runs on eleven hits, walked three, and struck out five.

Before cruising through the second and third innings, he gave up three runs on three hits in the bottom of the first. After giving up three more runs in the fourth inning, he got into difficulty once more as the A’s lost 6-1.

Pitching nicely in relief, TJ McFarland and Dany Jimenez each gave up one inning and gave up just one hit and one walk. Still, it was insufficient because the Athletics’ bats were never seen.

Cody Bradford, the starting pitcher for the Rangers, shut out the A’s for 6.2 innings while only walking one. Josh Smith, the third baseman, had a throwing mistake that resulted in the only earned run that he gave up.

Abraham Toro had three hits on the day, all singles. Toro was the lucky recipient of Smith’s throwing error in the first and came around to score. He’s up to .250/.357/.375 on the year, appearing in 9 games.

He’s one of just three A’s hitters with a batting average of .250 or higher to this point. JJ Bleday is hitting .277, and in his 3 games Esteury Ruiz had hit .429. Everyone else on the roster is below that mark.

Overall, the A’s have hit .211 as a team, good for 27th in the league. Their .283 OBP is also 27th, while their .351 slugging percentage is good for 21st.

They’ve stolen just 3 bases, one of which by Ruiz who isn’t in Oakland, and the team is filled with corner bats who aren’t hitting well enough to warrant the playing time. Unfortunately, they do have to play the games so the A’s will keep trotting out a lineup that isn’t designed to compete at the highest level of the sport.

The A’s will try again Thursday, taking on the Rangers in the third and final game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 11:35 am PDT, with JP Sears set to take the mound for the A’s. He’ll face off against Rangers’ starter Jon Gray, who has been hit hard by the Cubs and Astros both times out this year.