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 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - The Oakland Athletics are doing their best to eliminate one of their pursuers in the AL West. Texas entered the weekend needing a series sweep to get back in the race. Instead, the Rangers are on the verge of being swept and falling 10 games behind division-leading Oakland with a month left in the season.
Joe Blanton provided another strong pitching performance, though he ran into trouble in the seventh, and Nick Swisher homered in the Athletics' 5-3 victory Saturday night. Frank Thomas scored a run and drove in another.
"It's coming down to crunch time, so this was a big series for us," Oakland second baseman Mark Ellis said. "We had two teams chasing us. We felt like if we played good this weekend, we could kind of take care of business a little bit."
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