Henderson, A's Trip Up Rangers

Jimmy Haynes knew all about the Texas Rangers' offensive roll. It didn't bother him one bit.

Haynes and Bill Taylor combined on a five-hitter and Rickey Henderson homered for the third time in as many games as the Oakland Athletics beat Texas 6-1 on Thursday.

Haynes (4-2) allowed one run on five hits in 7 1/3 innings against a Texas offense that is leading the majors in runs and hits and produced a 16-10 victory over the A's on Wednesday night.

"They've been scoring a lot of runs the whole year, and that just shows Jimmy's character," Henderson said. "He didn't worry about the hot-scoring ball club they have. He just went out there and pitched his ball game."

Haynes, acquired in a midseason trade with Baltimore last year, struck out seven and walked five. Taylor got five outs for his 10th save.

"I was thinking in the dugout, `I'll bet Baltimore would like to have that kid back now,'" said Texas manager Johnny Oates, a former Baltimore manager. "He was always really thought of very high in our organization when he was with the Orioles."

Haynes said he was fighting a cold but still had command of all his pitches.

"It was good that I had my good stuff today. Everything was working," he said. "I was going in and out with my fastball and mixing in my curveball and changeup. I was able to keep them off balance."

Rick Helling (7-3) failed in his third try for his eighth victory. He allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings while striking out five and walking two.

With the score tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Miguel Tejada doubled and Ryan Christenson rolled a bunt single down the third base line that no one picked up.

Henderson drove Helling's first offering into the left field bleachers for his sixth homer of the season as Oakland won for just the fifth time in the past 15 games.

"I've been seeing the ball really well for the last two weeks," Henderson said. "I've been hitting the ball pretty much on the button. I haven't been been coming up with that many hits because it seems like I had been hitting the ball right at people. But it so happens in the last three days, the balls I've been hitting have been getting out the ball park."

Helling said a miscommunication between him and third baseman Luis Alicea led their failure to go after Christenson's bunt, allowing him to beat it out.

"It's frustrating because they're willing to give you an out," Helling said. "But there was no way I could get it and there was a little miscommunication between Luis and myself. The next thing you know he hits a home run and it's 4-1."

Christenson collected his third hit of the game in the eighth, a two-run double.

Texas turned Tom Goodwin's leadoff walk in the fourth into the game's fist run. Mark McLemore sacrificed him to second and Rusty Greer followed with an RBI single.

Oakland evened the score in the fifth. Christenson singled up the middle and stole second before coming home on Ben Grieve's two-out single.

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