Texas’ playoff hopes take hit

Three-game sweep by Oakland drops Rangers in wild-card standings.

Khris Davis hit another big home run, Jharel Cotton pitched five shutout innings of one-hit ball and the Oakland Athletics extended their season-best winning streak to seven games with an 8-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

Texas got swept over three games at an inopportune time. The Rangers entered the series in contention for the second AL wild card, but fell 51/2 games behind Minnesota with a week left in the season. The Twins swept Detroit over four games this weekend.

The Rangers have lost eight straight in Oakland and 10 of 15 overall.

“We made it tough on ourselves,” Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre said. “This series was a bad one for us.

“We expect to come here and at least win series. It didn’t turn out that way.”

The Rangers will take their long-shot odds back to Arlington on Monday for a seven-game homestand to close out their regular season

“It will be nice to get home tomorrow and finish up with the seven at home,” interim manager the and two more away from home to start the regular season, the Cardinals are back in Arizona on Monday night against Dallas.

That meansa lot of Cowboys fans in the seats at University of Phoenix Stadium. It’s always that way when the Cowboys come to town. Arizona season ticket holders see a way to make back most or all of their investment by selling tickets to the game for Dallas fans.

So when Dallas (1-1) meets Arizona (1-1), it will bea mixed gathering cheering on both teams as the Cowboys look to bounce back from one of their worst losses in years, 42-17 at Denver, and overcome running back Ezekiel Elliott’s