Athletics Go Long to Defeat Rangers

Eric Chavez, Nick Swisher, Dan Johnson and Jay Payton hit solo home runs, and the Oakland Athletics extended their winning streak to five with a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night at Arlington, Texas.

The Athletics have built a 3 1/2 -game lead over the Rangers for second place behind the Angels in the West Division.

Mark Teixeira hit his 27th homer and Alfonso Soriano his 24th for Texas, which lost its fourth in a row and is 2-8 since the All-Star break.

Kirk Saarloos (6-6) yielded four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings to help the A’s beat the Rangers for the sixth time in seven meetings since the break.

Boston 3, Chicago 0 -- Manny Ramirez hit his 27th home run, a two-run shot off Orlando Hernandez in the first inning, and Wade Miller earned his first win since May 30, at Chicago. Miller (3-4) was 0-3 in his previous eight starts, but he limited the White Sox to five hits. Curt Schilling pitched the ninth for his second save in three chances.

Hernandez (7-3), in his second start since coming off the disabled list for a second time after being bothered by a sore shoulder, gave up four hits and two runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Toronto 9, Kansas City 4 -- Shea Hillenbrand and Eric Hinske each hit two-run doubles during a six-run fifth inning at Kansas City, Mo. The Blue Jays sent 10 men to the plate and took advantage of three walks, an error and a wild pitch to break the game open. The Blue Jays have scored a league-high 126 runs in July.

Tampa Bay 3, Baltimore 2 -- Damon Hollins broke a seventh-inning tie at St. Petersburg, Fla., with an RBI single off Sidney Ponson (7-9), who is 0-5 in six starts since last winning on June 18. All-Star closer Danys Baez gave up Miguel Tejada’s 21st homer before striking out Sammy Sosa and pinch-hitter Rafael Palmeiro to earn his 19th save.

Detroit 2-2, Minnesota 1-5 -- Scott Baker (1-1) gave up five hits in seven innings and Justin Morneau homered and drove in two runs for the Twins, who won the second game of a day-night doubleheader at Detroit. Baker outpitched Justin Verlander (0-2) in a matchup of top pitching prospects who were making their second major league starts.

Cleveland 4, Seattle 3 -- Cliff Lee (11-4) gave up three runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings at Cleveland while improving to 4-0 in four starts against the Mariners. He walked one and struck out five before being pulled after giving up Randy Winn’s one-out RBI double in the eighth.