Gentry's speed sparks sluggish Ranger offense

Gentry
got on base twice with a bunt single and an infield hit, the latter
producing a run during the Rangers' only scoring rally in a 4-1 win over
the A's.

Gentry's two-out single in the fourth brought home a run
and led to another run scoring. Gentry's speed was the difference as he
beat a double-clutch throw from third baseman Josh Donaldson to keep
the inning alive.

"That was a big infield hit; good hustle on
him," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "I don't know how they could
have forgot he can run like that, but the third baseman, you can't play
with the ball when Gentry puts it in play."

After Gentry reached
safely, Elvis Andrus singled to drive in the fourth run, which was all
the support starter Yu Darvish needed to pick up his sixth win.

"That's
what I bring to this team is speed," Gentry said. "I'm going to do
whatever I can to help the team win and luckily I was able to beat that
one out and push a run across."

The rally began with a two-run
homer by Adrian Beltre, but it continued with small ball as Nelson Cruz
reached on an infield single and Yorvit Torrealba drew a walk. Cruz
scored on Gentry's infield hit and Torrealba came around on Andrus'
single.

Small ball proved to be the spark the Rangers' offense needed after looking flat in losing two games against Kansas City.

On
Wednesday the offense again looked to be in a malaise. Andrus led off
the game with an infield single but was erased on a double play. The
Rangers put two on in the third, including Gentry's bunt single, but the
threat ended with a soft fly out and a popup to the catcher.

"Coming
off this last series against Kansas City, we struggled as an offense,"
Gentry said. "Starting off the game, you could still feel like that
little sluggish [feeling]. Luckily we were able to get it going there
and get some runs across."

Part of the reason for the sluggish
offense has been missing pieces. Several core starters rested against
the Royals and the Rangers found themselves without two starters again
Wednesday. Infielder Michael Young got a scheduled day off while leadoff
hitter Ian Kinsler was a late scratch because of a stomach virus.

With
a depleted lineup, the Rangers needed to get contributions out of role
players like Gentry. In addition to using his speed to get on base,
Gentry sprinted to haul in a deep drive by Oakland's Seth Smith in the
eighth.

"He certainly ran that one down in center field,"
Washington said. "And he hustled, he got us that other run, and then
Elvis came up and got us another one. We played hard tonight and it paid
off."

Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire