Clark’s Errors Hurt Rangers

Kenny Rogers pitched 7 1/3 innings to beat his former team and the Oakland Athletics took advantage of two errors by Texas first baseman Will Clark for a 3-2 victory over the Rangers on Wednesday.

The Athletics have won four consecutive games, but Rogers had been winless since May 9 despite a 2.55 earned-run average in his last six starts. “He didn’t know how to act with all those runs,” A’s Manager Art Howe said. “It’s been a long time coming, but he kept pitching great.”

Rogers (7-3) took a shutout into the eighth before running into trouble. With one out, Rogers hit Luis Alicea and Roberto Kelly’s homer brought Texas within 3-2. Billy Taylor pitched the ninth for his 13th save.

The Rangers have lost six of seven. John Burkett (4-7) has won once in his last seven starts. In the first inning, Ben Grieve reached on Clark’s fielding error and went to third on Matt Stairs’ single. Mike Blowers then hit run-scoring double.

Oakland increased its lead in the eighth when Clark made his third fielding blunder of the night and second error. Clark lost control of the ball during a rundown, allowing Mike Blowers to score from third.

“I’m not going to make excuses,” said Clark, who has six errors in his last 11 games. “I didn’t help John.”

Before the game, the Rangers activated Kevin Elster from the 15-day disabled list and optioned infielder Scott Sheldon to triple-A Oklahoma City.