ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Mark Teixeira hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer that made him the major league RBI leader and the Texas Rangers beat Oakland 7-4 on Sunday to drop the Athletics to third place in the AL wild-card chase.

Teixeira’s career-best 39th homer, his fifth in seven games, gave Texas a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning. It increased the All-Star first baseman’s RBI total to 125, two more than Boston’s David Ortiz.

Oakland (79-63) had won three straight, but lost for the seventh time in 11 games overall. The A’s began the day tied with New York at 1 games behind wild-card leader Cleveland, but the Yankees beat Boston 1-0.

Alfonso Soriano and Mark DeRosa also homered for the Rangers, who lead the major leagues with 241. They are on pace for 273 homers, nine more than the Seattle Mariners hit when they set the big league record in 1997, and have already set a club mark with 141 at home.

Kenny Rogers (13-7) threw a season-high 121 pitches over six innings, allowing three runs and seven hits. He struck out five and walked two. John Wasdin pitched three innings for his fourth save. He gave up a solo homer to Marco Scutaro with two outs in the ninth.

Rogers has won his last two decisions. The 40-year-old left-hander was 0-3 with a 5.25 ERA in four July starts after returning from his 13-game suspension for shoving two TV cameramen earlier this season.

Joe Kennedy (3-3) lost his third straight start filling in for Rich Harden, who has a strained muscle in his upper back. Kennedy struck out six, but gave up six runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings.

DeRosa led off the third with his seventh homer. Soriano’s 33rd was a solo shot with two outs in the seventh off Keiichi Yabu.

The A’s, whose 35-20 record since the All-Star break is still the best in the majors, took a 2-1 lead when Scutaro hit a two-run double off the left-center wall in the fifth.

Texas went ahead to stay in the fifth. After DeRosa and Gary Matthews Jr. had consecutive one-out singles, Michael Young drove in a run with his single. Teixeira followed with his homer that landed deep in the Rangers’ bullpen in right-center field.

Young went 2-for-4 to increase his AL-leading batting average to .330. He leads the majors with 196 hits and 59 multihit games.

Harden threw 35 pitches in a side session Sunday. Oakland manager Ken Macha said there was a chance the right-hander could start Friday in Boston.

Notes: Rangers DH Phil Nevin was ejected after arguing a called third strike in the second inning. … Oakland has allowed seven runs or more in five of the last eight games. … The start was delayed 27 minutes by rain.

AP-ES-09-11-05 1725EDT

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