The Oakland Athletics take just 2:31 to beat the Rangers 7-1 Thursday afternoon. Brandon McCarthy worked crisply, using just 88 pitches in seven innings as he help the Rangers to three hits and no walks while striking out five. On the offensive side, Coco Crisp showed rare power, hitting his first home run of the season and a triple, also his first. The seven total bases brought his slugging percentage up to a still terrible .229.

The A’s take three out of four from the Rangers, and now are seven games out of first place. This series should give them some confidence that they can still come back in this division. They did lose Yoenis Cespedes to a hamstring injury, but he’s day to day.