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Parker Pitches Gem, A's Beat Rangers In Rout

OAKLAND (CBS / AP) -- Rookie Jarrod Parker held Texas hitless until the eighth inning and Brandon Inge drove in four runs in Oakland's eight-run second inning as the Athletics beat the Rangers 12-1 on Monday night.

Parker (2-2) easily worked his way through baseball's highest-scoring offense in his ninth career start before Michael Young grounded a single through the middle for Texas' first hit leading off the eighth.

Parker got a warm ovation from the crowd of 10,120 and then recovered to get out of the inning on two more pitches—a popup by Nelson Cruz and an inning-ending double play from David Murphy. That ended the night for Parker, who allowed one hit, walked three and struck out six.

Inge started the scoring in the big inning with a three-run homer off Scott Feldman (0-4) and capped it with an RBI single as the A's normally meek bats broke through with a big night. Kila Ka'aihue added a two-run homer for the A's, who had lost 10 of 11.

Feldman was charged with all eight runs in the second inning and lost his fourth straight start. Things got so bad for the Rangers in their fifth loss in six games that they brought in outfielder Craig Gentry to pitch the eighth, the first position player to take the mound for Texas since Scott Sheldon on Sept. 6, 2000.

Gentry allowed a two-run double to Yoenis Cespedes to give the A's a season-high with 12 runs. Oakland had been shut out in seven of its previous 18 games and had just 12 runs during a recent nine-game skid.

Parker did not make the A's rotation out of spring training after being acquired in an offseason trade from Arizona for All-Star Trevor Cahill. He has been sharp ever since being called up from the minors allowing two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts for a 2.40 ERA.

But this was his best performance by far, as he struck out slugger Josh Hamilton twice to come close to pitching the second no-hitter in the majors in the last four nights. Johan Santana did it for the New York Mets on Friday against St. Louis.

The closest Texas came to a hit before the eighth was when second baseman Jemile Weeks made a diving stop of Nelson Cruz's hard one-hopper to end the second inning. Parker was also helped when Kurt Suzuki threw out Hamilton trying to steal second after a first-inning walk and a double play grounder by Mitch Moreland that erased David Murphy after a third inning walk.

Mike Napoli hit a solo homer in the ninth off Jim Miller for Texas' only run.

The first seven A's batters reached safely in the second inning against Feldman starting with a walk by Cespedes and single from Seth Smith. Inge followed with his fifth homer with Oakland.

Cliff Pennington added an RBI double to snap a career-worst 0-for-29 slump, Weeks had a two-run single and Smith hit an RBI single that knocked out Feldman. Inge greeted reliever Robbie Ross with an RBI single that made it 8-0.

This marked the third time in the past week the Rangers had allowed eight runs in an inning, all coming against offensively challenged teams. Seattle scored eight runs in the second and third innings last Wednesday in a 21-8 victory over Texas.

NOTES: The Rangers are the third team ever to play back-to-back series in Oakland in San Francisco, with Seattle doing it in 1998 and Seattle in 2001. ... There's still no timetable for Manny Ramirez to come up from the minors to join the A's. Ramirez was batting .243 with no extra-base hits in 11 games in the minors through Sunday. "It's difficult to bring a guy here when he's struggling," manager Bob Melvin said. ... Derek Holland (4-4) looks to bounce back for Texas from a rough start against Seattle last week when he allowed eight runs in 1 2-3 innings when he takes on Travis Blackley (0-0, 0.82) on Tuesday. ... The Rangers used all three of their draft picks Monday on high school players. After taking OF Lewis Brinson from Coral Springs, Fla., with the 29th pick, they got 3B Joey Gallo from Las Vegas at 39, and right-hander Collin Wiles from Overland Park, Kan., 53rd overall.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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