OAKLAND, Calif. -- Sonny Gray spent the past few days with Oakland pitching coach Curt Young, making subtle adjustments to his delivery. Grey wont reveal exactly what he and Young worked on. Suffice to say, the Athletics young staff ace is pleased with the results. Brandon Moss hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the fifth inning, and Gray bounced back from two sub-par outings to lead Oakland over the Texas Rangers 4-2 Wednesday, giving the Athletics (44-28) the best record in the majors. "Overall it was a pretty good outing," said Gray, who had won just two of eight starts before going seven innings against Texas and striking out seven. "I dont think there really is a difference other than I was able to make pitches," he said. "Thats probably it. People sometimes forget that baseball is a pretty hard game and theres going to be some rough patches that youre going to go through." Grey (7-3) bounced back nicely from his recent rough stretch. The right-hander needed only 31 pitches to get through the first three innings, then struck out Brad Snyder on a high 95 mph fastball to end the fourth with runners at second and third. Grey also got help from left fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who made a leaping catch at the warning track to rob Adrian Beltre of extra bases two batters before Snyder struck out. His lone mistake came in the fifth when Texas loaded the bases with two outs. Gray walked two and gave up an infield single before Shin-Soo Choos two-run single made it 2-2. "Its just balance for him," As manager Bob Melvin said. "He knows his delivery (and) his mechanics pretty well, and Curts terrific at pointing out subtle things. There are a couple things hes been working on." Cespedes and Josh Donaldson each had two hits for the As. Oakland has won four of five and is a season-high 16 games over .500. Their record is one game better than cross-bay rival San Francisco. "Anytime in the season that you can say you have the best record in baseball, its satisfying," Melvin said. "But theres a lot of baseball yet to be played. At least for the time being it feels good." Luke Gregerson pitched the eighth, and Sean Doolittle worked the ninth for his ninth save. Nick Tepesch (2-3) went five innings for Texas. Choo drove in both runs for the Rangers. "We have to get more than five innings out of our starting pitching and we have to have a shutdown inning after we score runs," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Somehow that (Oakland) lineup is always functioning. Somebody is always having a good day." Melvin shuffled his lineup and didnt start centre fielder Coco Crisp and second baseman Eric Sogard. Oaklands offence didnt miss a beat. John Jaso replaced Crisp in the leadoff spot and knocked in the As first run with a double in the third. Craig Gentry, who filled in at centre field, added two hits and scored a run. Second baseman Alberto Callaspo also had two hits. That was enough for Gray, who gave up two runs and six hits. He improved to 8-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 13 career starts against teams from within the As division. "He was keeping us off balance," said outfielder Alex Rios, who doubled off Gray in the fourth. "He managed his slider well. and his fastball had good velocity. He was locating it well." Cespedes scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning. He singled off Tepesch and scored on Moss double to right, barely beating the throw home with a headfirst slide. After Donaldson singled Moss to third, Stephen Vogt hit a short sacrifice fly to left to put Oakland up 4-2. Tepesch remained winless since May 26. He allowed nine hits over five innings with two walks and one strikeout. NOTES: Doolittle hasnt allowed a run in 22 1/3 innings, the longest active streak in the AL. ... Crisp was given a normal day off. ... Sogard pinch-ran after Callaspo singled in the ninth. ... Rangers 3B Luis Sardinas singled in the third to extend his career-best hitting streak to seven games. ... Texas LHP Joe Saunders (0-2), who will pitch the opener against the Angels on Friday, has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four starts since coming off the DL. ... Oakland LHP Scott Kazmir (8-2), who opens the series against Boston on Thursday, has a 0.95 ERA over his previous four starts. Nick Gordon Jersey . The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Twins Jerseys China . This weeks topics include his take on the Kevin Pillar incident, All-Star snubs, the firing of Padres general manager Josh Byrnes and more. https://www.cheaptwins.com/192t-kent-hrbek-jersey-twins.html. -- The Chicago Bears have agreed to terms with safety Brock Vereen and QB David Fales on four-year contracts. Harmon Killebrew Jersey . Observant Muslims avoid food and liquids from dawn to dusk during Ramadan but can, and often do, skip it if travelling or doing hard physical labour. Some devout Muslim athletes choose to fast during training or competition, but it can create selection difficulties for the coaches in team sports. Miguel Sano Jersey . Top-seeded Djokovic swept to a 6-1, 6-3 win over 51st-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in just 57 minutes, but fourth-seeded Federer had to see off a serious challenge from 48th-ranked Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic before coming through 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Wayne Simmonds netted the tying goal in the third period before adding the shootout winner, as Philadelphia snapped a five-game skid with a narrow 2-1 decision over Ottawa on Tuesday. Steve Mason came up with 41 saves and halted four of the Sens five breakaway chances for the Flyers, who dropped the final batch of games on their season- long eight-game road trip. Feels good. Its been a while since we had this feeling after a game, said Mason. Nice to come home, feel refreshed and get this big win at home. Mike Hoffman tallied and Craig Anderson made 33 saves in defeat for the Senators, who have dropped five of their last seven. All I can do is give our team a chance to win at the end of the night, said Anderson. You know you roll the dice in the shootout. Thats kind of how the way things go. Mika Zibanejad opened the games final segment with a successful try, then Jakub Voracek countered for the hosts. Sean Couturier could have won it for Philly to end the third round but hit the left post, instead. Finally, after Erik Karlsson was turned away by Mason, Simmonds pulled Anderson out of position enough to slip the puck inside the right post to end the contest. Hoffman produced the games first goal withh 6:36 gone in the third period, when he crossed from the right wing into the slot.dddddddddddd. moved past Philly defenseman Mark Streit and beat Mason between the pads. Given the resulting power play, their final of four opportunities, Simmonds evened the score at 8:59 by slipping a shot through Anderson from the left side. Anderson was quick with the glove to deny a Claude Giroux blast from the left circle as the clock ticked below 5 1/2 minutes left in regulation. Mason denied Kyle Turris from virtually the same location with 35.5 seconds to play in overtime. Game Notes Philadelphia had been 0-5 in shootouts this season and hadnt won a breakaway competition since taking a 4-3 victory in Vancouver on Dec. 30, 2013 ... Mason earned his first win since Dec. 13 against Carolina ... The Orange and Black improved to 6-7-7 this season in one-goal contests ... Prior to Tuesday, the Senators had won all four of their shootout-decided games against the Flyers ... Philly forward Brayden Schenn missed most of the last six minutes of the second period and part of the opening minute of the third after taking multiple stitches to close a facial wound resulting from a skate cut from Simmonds. ' ' '