ARLINGTON, Texas Mark Teixeira homered twice and three teammates also connected as the Texas Rangers set a major league record for home runs at home, beating the Seattle Mariners 8-6 to finish a four-game sweep.

Teixeira broke a tie with a three-run shot and pushed his season total to 41 homers. Rod Barajas’ drive in the fourth inning gave the Rangers 150 homers at Ameriquest Field this season, breaking the mark of 149 set by the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in 1996.

David Dellucci and Alfonso Soriano also homered for the Rangers, who have won five in a row to reach .500 (75-75) for the first time since Aug. 9.

Teixeira joined Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez as the only Texas players with at least 40 homers in a season.

The switch-hitting Teixeira added a solo homer in the seventh while batting right-handed against George Sherrill to extend Texas’ lead to 8-6. Teixeira had his seventh multihomer game of the season and 11th of his career.

Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate for the second time in his career. The last time was July 4, 2004, against Baltimore.

R.A. Dickey (1-1) was the beneficiary of the long-ball outburst in his second major league start since his conversion to a knuckleball pitcher.

Dickey allowed six runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings and left with a 7-5 lead. He walked four and struck out two.

Francisco Cordero got three outs for his 34th save in 42 chances.

Seattle went ahead 1-0 in the third on Miguel Ojeda’s RBI single, but Texas answered with a three-run third on Dellucci’s leadoff homer – his 28th – and Soriano’s two-run shot – his 35th.

The Mariners took a 4-3 lead with a three-run third, taking advantage of Dickey’s inability to control the knuckler. Jose Lopez had an RBI double, Ojeda drew a bases-loaded walk and Ichiro Suzuki added an RBI groundout.

Texas used a four-run fourth to take a 7-4 lead. Barajas hit a solo shot – his 20th – and Teixeira had a three-run homer.

Seattle starter Ryan Franklin (6-15) yielded four homers in four innings, allowing seven runs and six hits. He struck out four and walked four.

The Mariners made it 7-5 in the sixth when Greg Dobbs hit his first career triple and scored on Lopez’s groundout. Later in the inning, Suzuki’s RBI single off Joaquin Benoit pulled Seattle to 7-6.

Notes: Barajas gave the Rangers seven players with at least 20 homers, tying the major league record held by the 1996 Baltimore Orioles and the 2000 Toronto Blue Jays. … Texas’ Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 16 games, matching his career high set earlier this season. Young was the DH for the third time this season with Mark DeRosa getting the start at shortstop. … Suzuki was the DH for the second straight game as he got a break from playing the outfield to rest a sore foot. Suzuki is expected back in right field Monday at Toronto. … Gonzalez hit 40 or more homers five times for the Rangers. Palmeiro and Rodriguez hit 40 or more three times for Texas.

AP-ES-09-18-05 1726EDT

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