Mench leads Rangers' HR barrage

ARLINGTON, Texas - Kevin Mench and his Rangers teammates went to their strength Thursday: the long ball.

Mench hit three homers and Mark Teixeira had two as Texas hit eight in a game for the second time this season, leading to an 18-5 rout of the Los Angeles Angels.

Alfonso Soriano, Hank Blalock and David Dellucci also connected for the Rangers, who matched their record for homers in a game.

"We were able to outslug them," Mench said.

Texas split the four-game series after losing the first two by a combined 18-4. The Rangers trail the Angels by 61/2 games in the West.

"I'm happy with how these guys responded," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said. "They are one of the best teams in baseball. To beat them, we had to be firing on all cylinders."

Mench homered in the fifth against Joel Peralta and had two-run homers in the sixth and seventh off Jake Woods. It was his fifth multihomer game, his second this season.

"It was a combination of things," Mench said. "It was a hot day, there was a breeze, but we also put together some good at-bats."

Teixeira took over the league lead in homers with 22, two ahead of teammate Alfonso Soriano, who homered leading off the third, and the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez. Teixeira hit two-run homers in the second and fifth innings. He has eight multihomer games, half of them this season.

Texas also hit eight homers May 21 in an 18-3 win over the Astros and have a major league-leading 128 this season.

"We're glad to be back in the race," Mench said. "We know it's going to be a dogfight all the way. I think it's going to come down to the last day."

A'S 6, MARINERS 2: Dan Haren won his career-best sixth straight decision and Dan Johnson and Bobby Crosby homered to lead host Oakland to its season-high seventh straight victory.

The A's, helped by Seattle third baseman Adrian Beltre's three errors, completed their second straight sweep after taking three from San Francisco last weekend. The Mariners lost their fifth straight.

INDIANS 9, ORIOLES 3: Coco Crisp had three hits and two RBIs to back Jake Westbrook's strong pitching for visiting Cleveland. Jhonny Peralta had two hits, two RBIs and two runs for the Indians, who went 17-10 in June. They have won nine of their past 11 on the road and five of six overall. Westbrook allowed three runs, four hits and three walks over seven innings to win his fourth straight start. He left after throwing 95 pitches on a hot, humid night.

WHITE SOX 6, TIGERS 1: Freddy Garcia pitched a five-hitter for his first complete game of the season and visiting Chicago finished a three-game sweep. Joe Crede and former Hillsborough High standout Carl Everett homered for the White Sox in a game delayed 2 hours, 4 minutes at the start because of thunderstorms.

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 12:23:22]