(Best E Casino) - With Rich Harden and Joe Blanton now on different teams, the Oakland Athletics will turn to their new ace in Justin Duchscherer, as he tries to continue his marvelous season in the second contest of a three-game set against the Texas Rangers at McAfee Coliseum.

It could be argued that even when Harden and Blanton were in the A's rotation that Duchscherer was the team's ace. Heading into this matchup, the 30-year- old has a solid record of 10-6, but more importantly, he owns the best ERA among starters in the majors at 1.87.

The right-hander has allowed more than three runs in just one of his 17 starts, and in his last 10 outings Duchscherer has surrendered no more than two runs in each start.

The last time Duchscherer took the hill he limited the Bronx Bombers to just two runs on six hits in seven innings of work. Unfortunately, the right- hander received little run support and fell to the Yankees, 2-1.

At the Coliseum this season, the South Dakota native has been outstanding, posting a 7-1 ledger in nine starts, to go along with a 1.36 ERA.

Taking the hill for Texas will be Matt Harrison, who will be making his fourth start for the big league club since being called up on July 8th. Harrison was called up from AAA Oklahoma, when Eric Hurley suffered an injury which landed the young hurler on the DL.

Harrison's previous three starts were very rocky to say the least, as the southpaw collected a 1-1 mark with an atrocious 9.20 ERA. The last time the 22-year-old was on the hill, he was hammered by the Minnesota Twins, 14-2. In the setback Harrison surrendered eight runs on nine hits in five innings of duty. He also allowed two home runs, and posted three walks.

Last night, Josh Hamilton, David Murphy and Chris Davis each recorded two-run home runs as the Rangers exploded for eight runs in the ninth inning to run away with a 14-6 win over the Athletics.

Davis was 3-for-6, adding a double and three runs scored as each player in the Texas lineup recorded at least one of the team's 17 hits. Michael Young finished 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of RBI.

Vicente Padilla (12-5) got the win after allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks through six innings, fanning nine. He improved to 9-2 in 13 road starts this season for Texas, which had dropped two in a row coming into this three-game series.

Oakland starter Sean Gallagher gave up five runs -- just one earned -- on nine hits with five walks and five strikeouts in 5 1/3 frames. Jerry Blevins (0-1) took the loss as he was credited with a run on one hit in 1 1/3 innings of relief. Alan Embree and Andrew Brown were each saddled with four runs surrendered in the ninth inning.

Since the beginning of the 2006 season these two squads have been evenly matched, as the Rangers hold a slight 27-21 edge over the Athletics.