gettin’ hot in here

The Texas Rangers’ recent freefall — they’ve lost eight of 10 — is personified in Mitch Moreland’s performance. The former Mississippi State star is mired in an 0-for-21 slump and has seen his average fall to .233. The Rangers lost to Oakland 1-0 on Saturday and dropped 5.5 games behind the Swingin’ A’s in the American League West. Texas is tied with Tampa Bay atop the wild card standings, but Cleveland is coming on fast and the New York Yankees, Baltimore and even Kansas City are still in the picture. … Itawamba Community College product Desmond Jennings had a couple of doubles and a couple of RBIs to spur Tampa Bay, which has won three straight, past Minnesota on Saturday. … Taylorsville’s Billy Hamilton stole another base — he is 5-for-5 — and scored a run in Cincinnati’s 7-3 win against Milwaukee. The Reds are 2.5 games back of Pittsburgh and St. Louis in the National League Central race but hold a 5.5-game edge on Washington for the No. 2 wild card in the NL. … The Nationals saw their 7-game win streak halted by Philadelphia — MSU alum Jonathan Papelbon notched his 27th save — and dropped 11 games behind Atlanta in the NL East. The Braves, 2-1 winners over San Diego, now have a magic number of 4 to clinch the division. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves pitcher David Hale (nine K’s in his debut for Atlanta on Friday night) beat Christian Bethancourt to the lineup card to become the 80th M-Braves alum to advance to the big leagues. When he plays, Bethancourt will be the 13th M-Braves product to debut in MLB this season, joining Hale, Evan Gattis, Paul Clemens (with the Astros), Brett Oberholtzer (Astros), Cory Rasmus, Jesus Sucre (Mariners), Ed Lucas (Marlins), Alex Wood, Zeke Spruill (Diamondbacks), Joey Terdoslavich, Todd Cunningham and Phil Gosselin.