Brown hits 3-run homer, has 4 RBIs to power A´s past Rangers

Emil Brown hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs to help the Oakland Athletics beat Texas 12-6, ending the Rangers´ season-best five-game winning streak Sunday.

Frank Thomas drove in two runs to give him 1,695 RBIs, tying him with Cal Ripken for 21st all-time, and Mark Ellis had three hits for the A´s.

Ian Kinsler had three hits for the Rangers, who had won nine of their previous 11.

With the game tied at 6, Bobby Crosby led off the seventh with a double, then stopped at third on Ellis´ single. Rangers reliever Franklyn German´s pickoff attempt had Ellis in a rundown between first and second, but when Crosby broke for the plate, Rangers first baseman Frank Catalanotto threw late to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia as Crosby scored to put the A´s in front.

Ryan Sweeney added a sacrifice fly later in the seventh to extend Oakland´s lead to 8-6, and Brown´s RBI single in the eighth made it 9-6.

Daric Barton added a two-run homer in the ninth for Oakland.

German (1-1) gave up two runs and three hits in 2-3 inning to suffer the loss.

Santiago Casilla (2-0) allowed two hits in 1 1-3 innings for the victory.

Rangers starter Sidney Ponson allowed six runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings, his worst outing of the four starts since his contract was purchased from Triple-A Oklahoma on April 26.

The A´s activated Rich Harden from the 15-day disabled list to make his first start since April 2, but he couldn´t hold a four-run first-inning lead. Harden was placed on the 15-day disabled list April 10 with a strained right shoulder.

In the first, Thomas´ RBI single and Brown´s fourth homer of the season gave the A´s a 4-0 advantage.

Saltalamacchia´s two-run single in a four-run third tied it for the Rangers, who took a 5-4 edge in the fourth on Josh Hamilton´s RBI triple.

Harden allowed five runs runs and eight hits in 3 2-3 innings.

Ponson walked Jack Cust with the bases loaded in the sixth as the A´s tied it at 5, and Thomas followed with a sacrifice fly off German to give Oakland the lead.

Notes:@ To open a roster spot for Harden, OF Chris Denorfia went on the 15-day DL because of tightness in his lower back. ...Texas placed RHP and No. 1 starter Kevin Millwood on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained right groin. RHP Doug Mathis was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma to take Millwood´s roster spot. ...Texas also outrighted RHP Kazuo Fukumori, currently with Oklahoma, off the 40-man roster. ...The Rangers used pink bats in honor of Mother´s Day and to promote breast cancer awareness.