ARLINGTON -- Rangers starter Drew Smyly called Friday’s outing against the A's a “big step forward.” He said there were a lot of positives to take out of it -- until the end.

Given a five-run lead after five innings courtesy of home runs by Asdrubal Cabrera and Elvis Andrus, Smyly had a real shot at his first Major League win since 2016. But it all slipped away, beginning in the sixth as the A's rallied for an 8-6 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Park.

The A's scored four runs in the sixth, and three more in the final three innings. The go-ahead run came in the eighth on a home run by Khris Davis, his 10th of the season and his 28th in his last 56 games against the Rangers dating back to the beginning of the 2016 season.

“I wish I could get that sixth inning back,” Smyly said. “I’ve got to do better. I think all the pitchers have to do better. ... A 6-1 lead, that’s a game we have to win, and we let it go.”

Smyly was sharp through five, allowing one run on three hits, with no walks and five strikeouts while throwing an economical 73 pitches. He had command of his offspeed pitches, and that kept the A's from sitting on his fastball. Smyly entered the game having allowed five runs over 6 1/3 innings in his first two outings and had also averaged 25.7 pitches per inning.

This game was more efficient, and Smyly had retired nine of the last ten batters going into the sixth. Then, he went to full counts on three straight hitters as Josh Phegley singled and Marcus Semien and Mark Canha drew walks to load the bases.

“I thought I had really good command the whole game,” Smyly said. “Didn’t walk anybody until that inning. Then, I had three full counts in a row and I went single, walk, walk. That’s not good enough, especially when I had a 6-1 lead. I need to throw it over the plate and let them get hits.”

Smyly admitted there was a possibility that he ran out of gas that inning.

“Maybe a little,” Smyly said. “It’s been a while since I’ve thrown in the sixth inning. But they asked me if I felt good, I said, 'Yeah,' I wanted to go back out. Just didn’t work out for me in the sixth. It’s just disappointing the way it ended tonight."

After manager Chris Woodward brought in reliever Jesse Chavez, the A's scored four that inning with the big hits being a two-run single by Matt Chapman and a two-out RBI double by Stephen Piscotty.

“I thought [Smyly] looked really good,” Woodward said. “Phegley got a hit, but the stuff was coming out really good. Obviously lost to Semien. ... When he started bouncing his breaking ball short of the plate, that’s when I realized it looked like he got tired really quickly. It was a really positive night, he pitched really well. He dominated for five innings, that’s something to build on for him.”

Odor scratched from lineup

Second baseman Rougned Odor was scratched from Friday’s lineup after batting practice with soreness in his right knee. This was the second straight game Odor did not start. He was out of the lineup Wednesday at Arizona with left-hander Robbie Ray on the mound, although he entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth.

Trailing 8-6, the Rangers had several chances to use Odor as a pinch-hitter in the ninth against A's closer Blake Treinen, but Woodward decided against it.

“He felt it after BP. We just decided not to make him available for the game as a precaution," Woodward said. "We’ll see what it looks like [Saturday]."