OAKLAND, Calif. -- With the Texas rotation ravaged by injuries early in the season, Martin Perez has more than filled the void. Perez pitched his second consecutive shutout to extend his scoreless innings streak to 26 and the Texas Rangers wrapped up a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 3-0 victory Wednesday. "Hes been the glue," manager Ron Washington said. "Hes held it together. Hes the one guy in that rotation whos been in it from last year who hasnt had a blip yet." The Rangers have been without Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis already at times this season but still find themselves in first place thanks to some strong play from fill-ins and major improvement from Perez. Perez (4-0) outpitched Sonny Gray (3-1) in a heralded matchup of emerging stars, allowing just three hits and two walks in his first start since throwing a three-hitter against the White Sox for his first career shutout. "I dont want to think too much about my ERA and the games that Ive thrown before," Perez said. "Im going to focus on my game today. We had a great game." Perez, who also threw eight scoreless innings against Houston on April 13, is the first Rangers pitcher to have three straight scoreless starts since Kenny Rogers had four straight over 30 innings in 2005. Perez also joined Charlie Hough in 1983 as the only Texas pitchers to have three straight starts of at least eight scoreless innings. "He knows how to pitch," Washington said. "He has weapons and he can throw them all for strikes and he has poise. He does a great job of staying with the game plan and thats something that hes learned from last year, how to study, how to go out there and just execute his pitches." Donnie Murphy homered and Michael Choice scored one run and drove in another for the Rangers, who moved a half-game ahead of Oakland in the AL West with their first sweep of the As since August 2011. The As never even threatened Perez on their way to getting swept at home for the first time since September 2012 against the Angels, ending a streak of 32 straight home series with at least one win. "Youre going to have your little lumps in the road," As third baseman Josh Donaldson said. "Everybody knows that here. We just have to come back." Oakland got leadoff singles from Jed Lowrie in the fourth and Derek Norris in the fifth for its first two hits off Perez. But Perez followed each of those hits by getting the next batter to hit into a double play, giving him a major league-leading 11 groundball double plays. Donaldson doubled with one out in the seventh, but was stranded there when Alberto Callaspo grounded out with runners on first and second to end the inning. "He keeps the ball off the barrel of the bat," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Hes pitched really well this year. The reason he can get deep in games is hes not striking a lot of guys out, hes just keeping it off the barrel of the bat." Gray allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings to end a six-game winning streak in the regular season dating to last September. He fell behind when Choice led the game off with a walk and scored on Alex Rios triple. The Rangers were poised for a possible big inning when Rios was originally ruled safe at home on a grounder Lowrie at shortstop. But Melvin challenged the call and Rios was ruled out on instant replay. Choice, traded from Oakland to Texas in the off-season, added an RBI single in the fifth and Murphy hit his first homer of the season in the sixth to make it 3-0. NOTES: Rangers 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff was held out with a sore back. ... Scott Kazmir (2-0) will take the mound against Brett Oberholtzer (0-3) on Thursday when Oakland opens a four-game series in Houston. ... Texas is off Thursday before beginning a three-game series in Seattle on Friday. Bobby Murcer Jersey . -- Adrian Peterson remained in a walking boot to treat a high ankle sprain on his left leg on Wednesday, and coach Leslie Frazier said he will not play on Sunday against Atlanta if he cant hit the practice field in the next two days. Aroldis Chapman Jersey . -- Ryan Gropp scored in overtime as the Seattle Thunderbirds shut out the Spokane Chiefs 1-0 in Western Hockey League play Tuesday. https://www.cheapyankees.com/1081g-austi...ey-yankees.html. Lupul injured the hand in a fall at practice on Thursday. He will wear a cast for a minimum of 10 days before he can put a glove back on it and get some mobility back, said Carlyle, who added the winger wont go on the teams upcoming road trip. Ryan Dull Yankees Jersey . The visitors missed a host of good chances to win the game, and were left to rue substitute Ivo Ilicevics strike against the crossbar in the 86th minute, when he only had the goalkeeper to beat. Cory Gearrin Yankees Jersey . "Im very pleased to be able to add a quarterback with Adrians experience and skill set," Calgary head coach and general manager John Hufnagel said in a statement.SAN ANTONIO - Gerald Green had 19 points and the Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs 106-99 on Sunday to remain unbeaten in three preseason games under first-year coach Jeff Hornacek. Miles Plumlee and rookie Dionte Christmas, 3 for 4 on 3-pointers, added 14 points each. Starting point guard Goran Dragic, who was 0 for 3 in 7 minutes, was the only one of Phoenixs 16 players who did not score. "When I got the job and I talked to them they said We all liked each other off the court, but didnt seem like we liked each other on the court," Hornacek said. "That was a big emphasis on us this year, just teamwork. We dont care who scores. Guys have done a nice job of just playing the game and hitting the open guy." Both teams sat out their starters sat out much of the second half. Tim Duncan had 122 points, and Manu Ginobili added 11 points and five assists for San Antonio (1-1).dddddddddddd Tony Parker, who spent much of the off-season playing for Frances national team, had 11 points in 17 minutes before sitting out the entire second half. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave Kawhi Leonard and Boris Diaw a day off. Corey Maggette, who is battling for a roster spot, had 10 points and three assists while starting in place of Leonard. "(Maggette) looks like hes caught on to what were trying to do," Popovich said. "Hes an intelligent player. Hes been in the league a while. He knows how to try to fit in and thats what hes trying to do with us. See if he can absorb enough to be a part of this team." San Antonios roster is down to 19 players after waiving Sam Young on Thursday. ' ' '