ARLINGTON, Texas -- When Bob Melvin went to the mound in the fifth inning, he wasnt going to take Sonny Gray out of the game. The Oakland Athletics manager had a reminder with a pep talk.Youve got to remind him who Sonny Gray is, Melvin said. Sonny Gray is one of the best pitchers in the American League.Gray, an All-Star last season but with a 5.49 ERA before Tuesday night, overcame that one volatile inning and had a season-high eight strikeouts as the As beat the AL West-leading Texas Rangers 6-3.The only hits Gray (5-9) allowed came to five consecutive batters to start the Rangers fifth, including deep opposite-field homers by Joey Gallo and Mitch Moreland. Gray had retired 12 of the first 13 batters before that and struck out the last two batters he faced to finish the sixth.The first four innings and even the sixth inning, thats the pitcher that I want to be and the pitcher that Ive been my whole career, not only in the big leagues, but my whole life, Gray said. I dont know what its been this year. I cant explain just the one inning.Josh Reddick drove in three runs for the As, who won for the fourth time in five games. Reddicks two-run homer in the fourth was one of three homers by the As. Coco Crisp and Marcus Semien also went deep.Gray, who has won all six of his career starts at Texas, struck out all three batters in the first and had five Ks through two innings.In the third, he had a nifty defensive play, bouncing off the mound toward the third-base line to field a high chopper. He made a backhanded catch and then an off-balance throw falling toward the line to get Robinson Chirinos out at first.He pitched great, and he got through a tough spot, which he wasnt able to do against them the one time at home, Melvin said. Hes working through some things in a difficult year for him, and he got through it tonight. He got us through six innings, and he pitched great.Crisp led off the fourth with his eighth homer of the season, and Reddick homered after Jed Lowries single. Semiens 21st homer started the fifth off Nick Martinez (1-3) before Reddick added a run-scoring single for a 5-0 lead.The no-hit bid for Gray ended when Rougned Odor singled on the first pitch of the fifth, though he was easily thrown out trying to stretch a routine single to right into a double.Gallo then homered, a 448-foot opposite-field blast over the As bullpen in left-center. Ryan Rua singled before Moreland also went the opposite way over that bullpen, a 423-foot homer.Martinez gave up five runs and six hits while pitching into the fifth after being recalled to start in place of Kyle Lohse, the 37-year-old right-hander designated for assignment with a 12.54 ERA after losing both of his Texas starts.Three solid innings, two challenging innings, manager Jeff Banister said. We liked what we saw the first three innings.BIG PROSPECTWith Prince Fielder expected to have season-ending neck surgery, the Rangers recalled Gallo to give them a left-hander with potential power. Gallo hit six homers in 36 games last season in his MLB debut, but had just one at-bat this year for the Rangers before Tuesday night.SHORT HOPSThe start of the game was delayed 62 minutes because of rain. ... Gray has allowed 17 homers, matching his career high set last season. The right-hander had been 1-8 with a 6.45 ERA his previous 14 starts. ... Oakland C Stephen Vogt returned after missing three games while on family medical leave.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: LHP Rich Hill, who hasnt started since July 17 because of a persistent blister, hopes to return Sunday. He threw a bullpen session with tape over the blister Tuesday after playing catch with it uncovered.Rangers: SS Elvis Andrus was out of the lineup for the second time in a nine-day stretch that also included an off day for the team. Banister said Andrus was a little banged up but would play Wednesday.UP NEXTAthletics: Lefty Sean Manaea (3-5, 4.61 ERA) has allowed only two runs in 20 innings his last three starts -- and the As have scored only once while he was pitching in that span.Rangers: Yu Darvish (2-2, 3.12) is winless in his two starts since returning from the disabled list, but the Rangers have scored only two runs total for him in those games. The right-hander struck out 11 in six innings at Kansas City last Friday. Air Jordan Pas Cher Site Fiable .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Air Jordan France En Ligne . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. http://www.pascherairjordanfrance.fr/ . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. Air Jordan Pas Cher Chine . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. Jordan Retro Pas Cher . The scientists believe the small earthquake during a Marshawn Lynch touchdown was likely greater than Lynchs famous "beast quake" touchdown run three years ago, which also came against New Orleans during a playoff game. A former WWE superstar with zero mixed martial arts experience entered the UFC Octagon on Saturday -- and it was only the third or fourth strangest thing to occur on the evening.Thats how bizarre UFC 203 was.In the co-main event, referee Gary Copeland allowed heavyweight Travis Browne to essentially call an injury timeout to fix a mangled finger, which is definitely not supposed to happen. Brownes opponent, Fabricio Werdum, went on to win anyway -- and then proceeded to half-heartedly kick Brownes trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, during a brief in-cage scuffle.Stipe Miocic knocked out Alistair Overeem to retain the UFC heavyweight championship in the next fight, after which a dazed Overeem claimed Miocic had tapped out to a guillotine choke prior to scoring the knockout. Rather than talk it out later once Overeems faculties returned, the UFC ran a series of in-house replays from multiple angles that clearly showed there was no tap -- all while Overeem stood awkwardly by.And all of this took place after the event had already seen a fight scrapped at the last minute, when C.B. Dollaway suffered a freak injury to his back when an elevator in his hotel malfunctioned.What do we ultimately make of all this madness? Heres what we learned at UFC 203.The UFC cant promote a second CM Punk fightLook, a lot of positive words have been written about Punk in the past 48 hours and Im not here to disagree with any of them. Whether or not his story deserved to be linked to the UFC, its an inspiring one.Punk, 37, walked out of a lucrative career in professional wrestling two years ago because it didnt make him happy. He pursued a journey in mixed martial arts because it did. Good for him.That said, there is no way the UFC can justify bringing him into the Octagon again after his first-round submission loss to Mickey Gall?(3-0) on Saturday.The UFC does deserve credit for doing something no one thought it would do, and that is book Punk against a legitimate opponent. Thats not to say Gall has proven himself a UFC-caliber welterweight -- he hasnt yet. But at the very least, hes an athletic 24-year-old prospect with a tangible skill set.And if were being candid here, that alone probably meant he was out of Punks league. Punk has a long professional wrestling career on his odometer. As inspiring as it for him to say, age is just a number, the reality is that number stannds for something, as does the back surgery he underwent earlier this year.ddddddddddddHed never say this, but he was in an impossible situation at UFC 203.If last weekend was Punks initiation to MMA, a trial by fire to see if hed have the guts to come back from a public beating, his second fight should be about actual competition. Because thats what this guy has said he wants. He wants to fight for real and in order to do that, he deserves the right to do it in a real situation.That means booking him against a similarly skilled opponent.The UFC isnt the right promotion for that job. The opponent Punk needs is not someone the UFC should be signing -- even to a one-fight deal.And again, none of this is meant to be a negative on Punk. On a personal note, Id have interest in seeing Punk fight outside the UFC. If he did so, theres no question in my mind Id tune in. But as far as seeing him do it in the Octagon? Count me out.When Punk announced he had signed with the UFC in 2014, he described this respect he had for everyone who stepped into the cage and said by the time he was finished, people would have to respect him as well.He earned that respect on Saturday, by seeing the process through and stepping into the Octagon himself. Doing so a second time might actually jeopardize that respect.The dark horse that is Stipe Miocic continues to rideEven the staunchest Miocic supporters would be hard-pressed to say they always pegged him for UFC history. Hes two wins away from doing exactly that.This stat is well documented, youve probably heard it by now: No UFC heavyweight champion has ever defended the title more than twice consecutively.Throughout his career, no one has really doubted Miocic but there has always been room on his bandwagon. While its not a shock hes the heavyweight champ, it never felt like a foregone conclusion beforehand either.Should Miocic be the one to finally break that two-defense barrier, among all the great names that have previously held that title, it would fit in perfectly to his dark horse reputation. His path to get there figures to be difficult, as it will presumably include a matchup against former champion Cain Velasquez.At this point, however, it would be foolish to discount his chances. ' ' '