Veteran relievers lose command in wild finish

ARLINGTON — The A’s latest loss was of the utmost ugly variety, put to bed by a walk-off hit-by-pitch that capped a wild sequence of events at Globe Life Park.

Their deflating 5-4 defeat to host Texas on Tuesday night followed a valiant comeback by an offense that bloomed to life late, tying the game in the ninth and scoring two more times in the 10th — efforts that were subsequently squashed.

Right-hander John Axford walked the bases loaded with one out and offered up a game-tying, two-run single to Carlos Beltran, leading A’s manager Bob Melvin to have lefty Marc Rzepczynski intentionally walk continual A’s killer Adrian Beltre with third base open. Rzepczynski’s next pitch, to Rougned Odor, hit the Rangers second baseman in the shoulder area, allowing the winning run to freely take home plate.

“Ten innings of hard-fought ball and I just threw it away in three hitters,” Axford said.

The veteran reliever made no excuses for his performance, despite …

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