Texas (75-78) at Oakland (84-68)

Struggling Kenny Rogers will try to continue his success in Oakland as the Texas Rangers begin a three-game series against the playoff-hopeful Athletics.

Rogers is 20-1 in Oakland since 1994, including a 15-0 record as a member of the Athletics in 1998-99. He had won 18 straight decisions there before suffering a loss last Sept. 16. However, the veteran left-hander has bounced back this season, going 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA in four starts against the A’s, including two outings at McAfee Coliseum in which he’s posted 1.20 ERA.

Rogers worked seven solid innings in his last road start against the A’s, a 10-8 win on July 16. Awaiting decision on whether his 20-game suspension for shoving two TV cameramen would be shortened, he gave up two earned runs and six hits to improve to 22-4 all-time in Oakland.

“He’s been successful in a lot of ballparks,” Rangers manager Buck Showalter said at the time. “He’s been doing it for a long time. Every time we needed him, he’s been there.”

Rogers, who is 18-7 with a 4.38 ERA in 56 career games against the A’s, eventually was suspended for 13 games, but has struggled to resume his earlier dominance. After winning 11 of his first 15 decisions this season, he is 2-3 with a 5.44 ERA in eight outings since.

He gave up five runs and eight hits in seven innings of Texas’s 7-6 win over Seattle Saturday. The Rangers are 4-0 in his four September starts, scoring a combined 29 runs to help him to a 2-0 record.

The Rangers lost three straight to the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels, including a 7-4 defeat Thursday.

Michael Young went 2-for-3 with an RBI to extend his career-high hitting streak to 19 games. He leads Angels outfielder Vladimir Guerrero by nine points in the AL batting race.

Oakland had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 10-4 loss to Minnesota Wednesday. Mark Ellis homered and Jason Kendall had a two-run double for the A’s, who are three games behind the AL West-leading Angels.

Ellis and Kendall have been hot at the plate for the A’s. Ellis is batting .436 (34-for-78) in September while Kendall is hitting .404 (23-for-57) with 10 multi-hit efforts in his last 14 games.