Rangers beat Athletics for 9th time in row, 13-4

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Colby Lewis pitched into the eighth inning for his first victory in nearly a month even while giving up another home run as the AL West-leading Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 13-4 on Friday night.

Lewis (12-10) trailed 2-0 only four batters into the game after Josh Willingham's two-run homer, the AL-high 33rd allowed by the Rangers' right-hander this season. But Texas got even in the bottom of the first and Oakland didn't score again until after Lewis had thrown his last pitch.

Adrian Beltre had an RBI double for his 2,000th career hit and Elvis Andrus had two run-scoring hits, including a tiebreaking RBI double in the fifth that made it 3-2.

Brandon McCarthy (8-8) struck out five over six innings, and only two of the four runs against the big right-hander were earned. His fielding error in the first led to one of those runs.

Lewis' only win his previous eight starts was Aug. 13 at Oakland. This time against the A's, Lewis had seven strikeouts with one walk while allowing three runs and five hits over 7 1-3 innings.

It was Texas' ninth straight victory over the Athletics, its longest winning streak against the AL West rival since winning nine in a row in 1986.

The only batter McCarthy walked was Texas leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler in the first. Then McCarthy had a fielding error on Michael Young's comebacker before Beltre's milestone hit and David Murphy's sacrifice fly that tied the game at 2.

Kinsler had three hits and scored four times, giving him 15 runs his last eight games and 105 for the season. Young drove in four runs, including a three-run double in the eighth before Mike Napoli's 25th homer, a two-run shot that landed an estimated 428 feet over the Rangers bullpen in right-center.

After Kinsler reached on an infield single in the fifth, Andrus hit a liner directly over the head of center fielder Coco Crisp as he sprinted toward the wall. Andrus scored from second when Beltre reached on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Scott Sizemore.

Crisp made a spectacular catch an inning later, when he held on while stumbling on the warning track after running a long way to grab the flyball by Endy Chavez for the third out.

Michael Wuertz didn't retire any of the five batters he faced after taking over for McCarthy to start the seventh. The reliever was gone after five consecutive singles that led to four more runs for the Rangers, including RBIs by Andrus, Young and Beltre. Mitch Moreland drove in a run with another single later in the inning.

Lewis left with one on and an 8-2 lead before Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer, his 12th, off Mike Adams.

Willingham's homer was his 24th of the season.

NOTES: Oakland had three errors, giving it an AL-high 115. It is already the A's most since having 115 in 2001. McCarthy's error was the 19th by an Oakland pitcher, and his AL-high fifth at the position. ... Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton missed the game to be with his wife for the birth of their fourth daughter, who was born about 30 minutes before the game started. ... After a long streak of 100-degree days during July and August, the game time temperature was 88 degrees, the lowest since 84 on May 25. ... On Saturday, All-Star RHP Alexi Ogando (12-7) makes his first for the Rangers since Aug. 31, after they skipped his last start to give an extended rest. RHP Trevor Cahill (10-13), who is 2-6 with a 6.67 ERA in 10 starts since the All-Star break, starts for the A's. ... Oakland manager Bob Melvin said left-hander Josh Outman will get a spot start in Sunday's finale and that right-hander Rich Harden will be pushed back to Wednesday.