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ARLINGTON, Texas -- While the Texas Rangers are getting close to clinching another AL West title, their top two pitchers are struggling a bit.Yu Darvish matched a career high allowing seven runs, a night after All-Star lefty Cole Hamels had another subpar outing, and the AL-best Rangers lost 11-2 to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.We believe in those two guys, in Cole and Darvish, manager Jeff Banister said. Still believe theyre as good as there is out there.Darvish (5-5) struck out eight in his five innings, but walked four batters -- all of those runners scored -- and allowed two homers.Ive been having good command throughout this year. Today I didnt have it, Darvish said through his translator. I think its because I wasnt getting a good feel for it physically, and a feel for the pitches. Im not talking about pain or anything, its just the feel. I just didnt pitch well today.Joey Wendle led off the game with his first major league homer and Marcus Semien also went deep against Darvish.Carlos Gomez homered for the Rangers (88-61), whose magic number to clinch the division title dropped to five after Houston won 2-1 at Seattle later Saturday night. The Astros and Mariners are both 9 1/2 games back in the AL West with two weeks left in the regular season.Hamels has allowed at least six runs in three of his four starts, including the series opener Friday night against the As when he allowed six runs in six innings before the Rangers rallied to win the game with two outs in the ninth.There would be no big comebacks Saturday night, after which both Hamels and Darvish will likely have no more than two more starts before the postseason.Darvish has put together some quality starts in there, Banister said. With Cole, obviously, weve seen some challenges, hes been nicked a little bit, but still, these guys are still throwing quality pitches. ... I feel like that these guys are going to continue to find their rhythm and make good pitches for us.Raul Alcantara (1-1), among five As pitchers to make their MLB debuts this season with a start, had three strikeouts without a walk. He pitched into the sixth, when he allowed a two-run homer to Gomez.Danny Valencia added another three-run homer for the As, his 17th, in the eighth off Dario Alvarez.Wendle, a rookie second baseman in his 15th career game, hit a 1-1 pitch into the left-field seats. His sacrifice fly in the second made it 4-0, after Darvish had walked the bases loaded to start the second and Bruce Maxwell hit a two-run singleSemiens three-run homer in the fifth, his 26th, made it 7-0 against Darvish.I noticed that early the fastball command wasnt there. So you get him looking in one spot, Semien said. Hes going to throw it in there. He throws a lot of offspeed too, so we were able to key in on one pitch and did a good job.NO A FOR YU VS OAKLANDDarvish is now 2-9 in 13 career starts against Oakland. No other team has beaten Darvish more than four times. When Darvish last faced Oakland -- a day after his 30th birthday exactly a month ago Saturday -- he struck out nine and walked one in seven innings in a 6-2 victory. Before that, he had gone 0-8 in 10 starts against the As since winning against them more than four years earlier in only his eighth game after coming from Japan.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: RHP Sonny Gray, out since Aug. 7 with a strained right forearm, threw all of his pitches during a 31-pitch bullpen session. He will get a couple of days off before another bullpen, and could still potentially pitch in another game this season.Rangers: DH/1B Prince Fielder was in the dugout for the first time since announcing last month that he couldnt play again after a second spinal fusion surgery. He got his neck brace off just more than a week ago.UP NEXTAthletics: Since eight scoreless innings in his first start for Oakland, lefty Ross Detwiler is 1/3 with a 5.25 ERA his last seven games (six starts).Rangers: Colby Lewis (6-2, 3.31) makes his only his second start since a two-month stint on the DL with a strained right lat. The right-hander allowed three runs, all on solo homers, in 5 1/3 innings at the Los Angeles Angels last Sunday. Trent Williams Jersey . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. Russ Grimm Youth Jersey . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. https://www.redskinssportsgoods.com/Womens-Sonny-Jurgensen-Inverted-Jersey/ . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Art Monk Womens Jersey . Self was acquired from the Buffalo Bandits in a trade for Alex Hill midway through last season, and made his debut in Rochester on March 16, 2013. Charles Mann Redskins Jersey . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action.NEW YORK -- Chris Nelson was headed toward the showers when he walked past C.J. Wilsons locker in the Los Angeles Angels clubhouse. "Whats up, hero?" Wilson said with a wry grin. "Me? No," Nelson replied. That must be exactly what the New York Yankees are thinking. Nelson hit his first two home runs of the season, including a grand slam against his former team, to send Wilson and the Angels past New York 8-4 on Thursday. "Its a great day for Chris, both offensively and defensively," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "Its good to see his bat come alive. Hes got some pop and he hasnt really shown it this year in the 100 or so at-bats hes had, but you saw it today and hopefully its a sign of more to come." Josh Hamilton and rookie J.B. Shuck each had an RBI single to help the struggling Angels prevent a four-game sweep. Wilson (13-6) won his fifth consecutive decision, keeping Alfonso Soriano in the ballpark after the streaking slugger piled up four homers and 13 RBIs the previous two nights. Soriano extended his sensational tear, going 4 for 5 with an RBI single, but the Yankees managed little else until a three-run ninth as their four-game winning streak ended. After finishing a 5-2 homestand, they head to Fenway Park this weekend to face first-place Boston. Nelson spent a couple of weeks with the Yankees in May, one of several replacements they tried at third base while Alex Rodriguez was recovering from hip surgery. A top-10 draft pick by Colorado in 2004, he didnt leave much of an impression -- until returning with Los Angeles. "He hurt us bad today," New York manager Joe Girardi said. Nelson hit a solo homer off Phil Hughes (4-12) to make it 3-1 in the fourth. He added his first career slam off Boone Logan in a five-run eighth for his first multihomer game in the majors. Mike Trout got the inning started by hustling for a pop-fly double that was misjudged by centre fielder Brett Gardner. The only time the Angels retired Soriano, it came on a nice play at third by Nelson, who started a critical double play earlier in the game. Shuck also threw out Soriano trying to stretch a single in the first. "Everything just fell in place for me," Nelson said. Wilson worked around 11 hits and threw a season-high 124 pitches in 6 2-3 innings while matching his win total from last year. The left-hander limited the Yankees to one run after they totalled 25 the previous two nights, improving to 9-1 with a 2.76 ERA in his last 12 starts. The rrun began with a win over New York at home on June 14.dddddddddddd He is 6-0 in his last seven road starts and 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees, who outhit Los Angeles 15-11. "It just only matters that I got through it," Wilson said. "Well take any wins we can get right now. I was lucky to give up mostly singles, and that prevented them from having the big innings." Wilson came in leading the majors with an average of 110.4 pitches per start and needed 71 to get through three innings. It could have been more, too, but he got Vernon Wells to ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded after the Angels botched a popup. That was the turning point for Wilson, who held New York in check on 53 pitches over the next 3 2-3 innings. Hughes had his best outing in more than a month, throwing 73 of 104 pitches for strikes over six solid innings. But a brief hiccup put him behind in the fourth, and the Yankees never recovered. The right-hander dropped to 0-5 in his last seven starts. He has lost 10 of his past 12 decisions and is 1-9 this season at home, where hes given up 17 of his 23 homers. "I thought he threw the ball better today. I thought his command was better today, and he needs to keep improving," Girardi said. Erick Aybar hit a leadoff double in the fourth, advanced on a passed ball and scored on Hank Congers sacrifice fly. Nelson then fouled off four straight full-count pitches before sending an opposite-field drive into the right-centre bullpen for his first home run since Sept. 14 with Colorado. Scioscia said Nelson is a candidate for the third base job next year. "I just want to make my mark," Nelson said. He also reflected on his brief stint with the Yankees. "Trust me, I enjoyed my time here. I enjoyed the guys and it was a great experience for me," he said. Hamiltons two-out RBI single put Los Angeles up in the first after Shuck singled and stole second. Moments later, Soriano socked a line drive off the left-field wall. But he jogged out of the box and was thrown out at second on a fine play by Shuck. Gardner tripled in the third and scored when Soriano singled through a drawn-in infield for his 14th RBI in three days. NOTES: Rodriguez went 2 for 5 while starting a day game after a night game for the first time since coming off the disabled list. He was rested last weekend under similar circumstances. ... Aybar was back at SS after sitting out Wednesday. He left Tuesday nights game with cramping in his left calf. ' ' '