OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Cliff Lee pitched at least eight innings for the 10th straight start, Taylor Teagarden hit a two-run homer and the first-place Texas Rangers built their biggest division lead in 11 years with a 5-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
Lee (10-5), who won for the first time in three starts, struck out eight and didn't walk a batter in eight innings. The Rangers moved a season-best 19 games over .500 (64-45).
Josh Hamilton added a solo homer for the Rangers in the opener of a key series between the AL West's top two teams. Texas won its third straight and increased its division lead to 9 1/2 games ahead of the A's.
Lee didn't walk a batter for the 12th time in 19 starts. He has allowed only nine free passes all season while striking out 126. The lefty has thrown at least eight innings in all five of his starts since joining the Rangers in a trade from the Mariners on July 9.
A's starter Dallas Braden (6-8), coming off a complete game win over the White Sox in Chicago last Saturday, was done after six innings after complaining of a tender jaw following a dental procedure earlier in the week.
He was trying to win third straight start after a nine-start winless stretch in which he went 0-5 after his improbable perfect game against the Rays on May 9.
A's reliever Brad Ziegler had trouble in the eighth. He wildly threw past first on a pickoff attempt for a two-base error that put Elvis Andrus on third. Andrus then scored on a balk by Ziegler, the first of his career.
David Murphy, with go-ahead home runs in each of the previous two games for Texas at Safeco Field, was in the lineup in left field and batting seventh. Rangers manager Ron Washington explained to Julio Borbon that he's going with the hot hand.
"I can't rightly pull him out of the lineup right now," Washington said. "He's playing good baseball."
Boof Bonser pitched the ninth for the A's in his Oakland debut.
NOTES: A's closer Andrew Bailey didn't throw on flat ground again Friday as planned because he didn't come out of his short Wednesday session "as well as we'd liked," according to manager Bob Geren. Bailey hasn't pitched since July 20 because of a strained right ribcage muscle, but didn't consider this a setback. He will take a couple of days off. "We have to give him time to get right," Geren said. "I always stay optimistic with things like this." ... Lee is 5-2 in 12 career outings and 11 starts vs. the A's. ... This is just the sixth season in club history the Rangers had reached 18 or more games over .500. ... Oakland OF Conor Jackson, on the DL since July 1 with a strained right hamstring, is slated to play in an Arizona League game Sunday. Geren said he's likely to start and play three innings to get a couple of at-bats. ... Saturday's game was changed from a night game to day for TV. Oakland is a majors-best 25-11 in day games and has won eight of its last night during the day. ... It was a chilly 60 degrees at first pitch.