Bradley Lifts Rangers Past A's

Milton Bradley homered and drove in three runs as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 6-4 tonight for their fifth straight win, despite having their shutout streak end at 33 innings. Texas pitchers had posted three shutouts in a row and the scoreless streak was the second-longest in franchise history. Oakland ended it with an unearned run in the third inning.

Rangers starting pitcher Kevin Millwood left in the first inning with a strained right groin. He recorded two outs and threw 12 pitches before exiting. Josh Rupe (1-1) replaced Millwood and yielded two runs in three innings. Frank Francisco, Eddie Guardado and Joaquin Benoit followed with scoreless relief outings for the Rangers, who won their fifth straight series for the first time since Aug. 23-Sept. 7, 2005. (More MLB stories.)