OAKLAND, Calif. – Trying to extend their winning streak to five games, the Texas Rangers left themselves no room for error Sunday.

This team simply can't do that.

A fly ball lost in the sunshine. A sinking fastball that didn't sink. Continued inability to solve left-handed starters.

In a 3-1 loss to Oakland, the Rangers combined all three.

AP

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington pulls starting pitcher Scott Feldman in the seventh inning. The Rangers were wearing throwback uniforms from their days as the Washington Senators.

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The loss kept the Rangers from shedding the mantel of having the worst record in the AL. They share that distinction with Seattle, the next stop on the trip. Both teams are 13-19.

With the Rangers clinging to a 1-0 lead in the seventh, Frank Thomas led off and hit a fly ball to center that disappeared into the sun and didn't reappear until falling just behind Josh Hamilton for a double. Two pitches later, Jack Cust drove a Scott Feldman fastball over the left-field fence to give Oakland a lead.

"One of those days, man," Hamilton said. "What bothers me most is that a guy like Scott Feldman pitched his butt off out there, and that happens. But you can't do anything about it now."

It wasn't just the fly ball that got Hamilton down. He was hitless in four at-bats, including three strikeouts against left-hander Greg Smith. Hamilton, No. 4 hitter Milton Bradley, a switch-hitter, and left-handed hitting David Murphy combined to go 0-for-12 with 10 strikeouts. Eight of the strikeouts came against Smith.

Finding success against lefties is a challenge for the Rangers. They are 1-5 in games started by left-handers and face two more in the next three days in Seattle. They are averaging just three runs a game against lefty starters. With reciprocal series against Oakland and Seattle in Texas on the next homestand, the Rangers probably will see the same lefties they are facing on this trip.

"It's hard to say what the challenge is," manager Ron Washington said. "The only thing I can say is we've got to hit them. The majority of my best hitters are left-handed. That's all there is to it."

Said Murphy: "I think it's more coincidence that the lefties we've faced have been 'on' on the days we've faced them. Smith lived on the corners and did what he needed to do. If we are getting good pitches to hit and striking out, that's our fault. He made his pitches today. Sometimes you just have to give credit."

Even with the struggle to score against a lefty, the Rangers stood in position to win the game going to the bottom of the seventh thanks to German Duran's first major league homer.

Feldman entered the inning with 91 pitches and had allowed just three hits to that point. And when Thomas sent a fly ball to center field, it looked like the start to another routine out.

After Hamilton lost the ball, Feldman fell behind Cust 1-and-0, then tried to get a sinker to the outside corner. He got it to the outer half of the plate, but it stayed up. Cust changed the game. Feldman had struck Cust out on a sinking fastball in his previous at-bat.

"I threw the pitch I wanted to throw," Feldman said. "I just didn't get it low enough."

One little mistake. These days that's all it takes to sink the Rangers.