e lineup after he served a two-game suspension for a late hit on Derek Stepan in Game 3 that broke

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Sonny Gray came off the mound and into the Oakland dugout after the eighth inning purposely trying to avoid contact with manager Bob Melvin. Fake Jordan . Gray, clearly the best pitcher on this night in a matchup against Rangers ace Yu Darvish, wanted to finish what he started. "I normally talk to him, share a laugh, make something up," Gray said. "I put my head down and he goes, How are you feeling? I just yelled Great!" and kept walking. ... Yeah, I wanted to go back out there." The right-hander did pitch the ninth, wrapping up a three-hitter for his first career complete game as the Athletics beat Texas 4-0 Monday night in Darvishs shortest outing in the major leagues. Grey (4-1) allowed only three singles while striking out six. He threw 73 of 108 pitches for strikes in his 16th career start. "I felt like telling him he better getting it done under 110 (pitches), but thats probably the wrong thing to tell a guy when he goes out for the ninth," Melvin said with a smile. "Usually he looks at me and has a conversation with me when hes coming in and he didnt even look at me after the eighth." Texas got only one runner to third base against the 24-year-old Gray, who threw two wild pitches in the sixth after Robinson Chirinos singled. Darvish (1-1) was gone after 3 1-3 innings, pulled after walking No. 9 batter Eric Sogard for the second time. Those were the only two walks for the right-hander, who allowed four runs and six hits while throwing 83 pitches (45 strikes). Darvish is winless his last nine home starts. "The first few innings I thought he mixed (pitches) pretty good," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "I thought he tried to throw everything at them. ... They found a way to put balls in play. They found a way to score runs." Josh Donaldson had a two-run single in the third, and the As made it 4-0 an inning later when Josh Reddick had an RBI triple and came home on Daric Bartons sacrifice fly. Oakland and Texas entered tied for the AL West lead and the leagues best record at 15-10. The Rangers, shut out for the first time this season, had swept a three-game series in Oakland last week. Grey walked Rangers leadoff hitter Michael Choice, but got out of the first with a fielders choice grounder and a 4-5-3 double play with three Oakland infielders shifted to right side against Prince Fielder. "The first couple of hitters it looked like what he usually does in the first where from time to time," Melvin said. "After that it was as well of a pitched game as Ive seen in a while." Choice grounded into an inning-ending double play in the third after the bottom two batters reached base. Darvish made his 66th start for Texas since signing from Japan before the 2012 season. His shortest previous MLB outing had been four innings at Seattle his rookie season, though he went only 1 1-3 innings in Japan start in 2006. Darvish struck out four, but three of those came in the first five batters of the game. The As are 7-1 in their nine games against Darvish, who last week got a no-decision in Oakland after going six innings and leaving a 3-3 tie before Texas won 4-3. After Donaldsons big hit, a bouncer through the left side of the infield out of the reach of diving third baseman Adrian Beltre, the As had the bases reloaded on a one-out single by Brandon Moss. Moss was thrown out retreating to first on a pitch that got away from catcher Chirinos, though the runner was originally ruled safe before Rangers manager Washington challenged and got the play overturned by replay. When Moss slid back in, his foot was against first baseman Fielders foot -- and not the base -- while being tagged. Washington lost a challenge in the eighth when thought Reddick was out on a pickoff attempt diving back to first with Barton batting. Reddick was called safe, and replay confirmed the call before Barton hit a deep flyball. Centre fielder Leonys Martin made a leaping catch on the warning back and threw to first base. Reddick was initially called safe by crew chief Jeff Nelson, who then initiated a replay and changed his call for an inning-ending double play. "Thats a first, two replays with the same guy sliding into the same base," Melvin said. "Thats part of the game now." NOTES: Rangers OF Shin-Soo Choo was out of the starting lineup for the sixth consecutive game because of a left ankle sprain, but flew out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. ... As OF Yoenis Cespedes missed his fourth game in a row (strained left hamstring). Manager Bob Melvin said its 50-50 hell be back in the starting lineup Tuesday. ... Game 2 features a standout matchup of left-handers. Oaklands Scott Kazmir (3-0, 1.62 ERA) pitches against Martin Perez (4-0, 1.42), who has thrown 26 consecutive scoreless innings his last three starts. Perez has two consecutive three-hit shutouts, the last coming Wednesday in Oakland. Fake Yeezy . "I never commented to anyone that I wanted out," he explained. "My heart is with this group and making the playoffs." Kesler added that the rumours are "completely false" that he asked to be traded - recently or ever. Fake Nike Shoes . Advancing to the Champions League quarterfinals should be a formality after Lionel Messi scored a penalty and Dani Alves added a late second to secure a commanding 2-0 advantage over City in the round of 16 on Tuesday. https://www.fakeshoes.net/ .com) - No Sidney Crosby, no problem. NEW YORK -- The last time the New York Rangers had a game to forget, they responded with five straight wins that put them on the cusp of the Stanley Cup finals. They are still there, and the Montreal Canadiens arent going away without a fight. New York needs one more victory to reach the championship round for the first time in 20 years. The Rangers know that Game 6 at home on Thursday is their best chance to get it. They returned home from Montreal on Wednesday, one day after a wild 7-4 loss cut their series lead to 3-2. If New York doesnt end it Thursday, the Rangers will have to go back to Montreal for a deciding Game 7. New York, which went the full seven games in each of the first two rounds of this years playoffs, will be playing its 20th post-season game. No team that played a pair of seven-game series before the conference finals has reached the Stanley Cup finals. "Its an opportunity to win the game to go to the Stanley Cup final," Rangers forward Brad Richards said. "I think everybody is alert and ready that way. We were talking about it all (Tuesday) how excited we were to get on the ice and start playing. "We had some mental breakdowns, but I dont think it had anything to do with (fatigue). Weve had a lot of rest this series. The opportunity that faces us right now, were pretty excited about it. I dont think there is too much letdown." In the second round, a poor performance at home in Game 4 against Pittsburgh dropped the Rangers into a 3-1 series hole. But New York won Game 5 on the road, took Game 6 at home, and won the clincher back in Pittsburgh to set up the matchup with Montreal. Now that the Canadiens have staved off elimination once, the Rangers are wary of giving them any more hope they can turn the tables. "You learn a lot from it. Thats why experience is experience," Richards said. "You go through many situations. (Tuesday) night was a bad feeling, but today were getting on a plane to go back to our city, and we get to play in front of our fans. "Its always, forget as quick as possible and try to remember the good things that were doing. It was one bad night, but weve been doing a lot of good things in this series." The Rangers won the opening two games in Montreal and then split a pair of overtime decisions at home. Even though they have had success on the road and in recent Game 7s, they know that going the distance again works against them. "Its a dessperate time," Richards said. Discount Fake Shoes. "You dont want to go back to a Game 7 where anything can happen. We want to get this done. Theyre a good team anywhere. "Were going to have to be a lot better, and we will be." This is as far as New York has advanced since captain Mark Messier led the club to the 1994 Stanley Cup title -- breaking the Rangers 54-year drought. The Garden will be ready to celebrate again Thursday. After the Rangers lost Game 4 to Pittsburgh, the loyal fans thought they might not see their team again until next season. That will be the situation again if the Canadiens pull off another victory. "You win a game, and things change in your locker room and you start feeling better about yourselves," Rangers defenceman Marc Staal said. "We know how it feels coming back in a series, but it doesnt change anything in our room. We are as confident as ever going into our building, and looking forward to it." So are the Canadiens. They know that if they wouldve scored in overtime of Game 4 as they did in Game 3, they wouldve had a two-game sweep at the Garden and would be the ones looking to advance Thursday. "Well be ready for one of those tight-checking games," defenceman Josh Gorges said Wednesday after an optional practice in Montreal. "Im sure it will be again one of those hard-fought games that well have to make sure that were even better than we were last game." Montreal will have rugged forward Brandon Prust back in the lineup after he served a two-game suspension for a late hit on Derek Stepan in Game 3 that broke the Rangers forwards jaw. Stepan returned Tuesday and scored two goals while wearing a full faceguard. The Rangers will be without defenceman John Moore. He was suspended for two games Wednesday after receiving a match penalty Tuesday night for a hit to Montreal forward Dale Weises head. Henrik Lundqvist will be back in goal for the Rangers after he was pulled in Game 5 on a rare off night in which he allowed four goals on 19 shots in less than two periods. He avoided the loss when New York rallied from a 4-1 deficit to get even. Backup goalie Cam Talbot gave up two goals in relief. "(Tuesday) night was probably the best game weve played in this series," Canadiens forward Lars Eller said. "If we keep doing a lot of those things, I think the end result will be good." ' ' '