Rangers 8, Mariners 5

SEATTLE (AP) — Alfonso Soriano is having the time of his baseball life and so are the astounding Texas Rangers.

They hit five home runs Monday night in an 8-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners, grabbed a 2 1/2-game lead over Oakland, and moved three ahead of Anaheim in the AL West.

”Nobody (thought) this team would be in first place right now,” said Soriano, who contributed his 12th homer to the team that finished last in the division for four straight seasons. ”I'm having so much fun right now with this team.”

Hank Blalock led the Texas power barrage with a pair of homers, and Kevin Mench and Mark Teixeira also homered against the last-place Mariners.

In other AL games, Tampa Bay routed Toronto 10-2, and Baltimore beat Kansas City 10-1.

Soriano came to the Rangers on Feb. 16 in the trade that sent Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees. In the spring, everybody picked Texas to finish last again.

”We have a lot of young players,” Soriano said. ”But they're good players and we play hard every night.”

The Rangers might be young, but they knew they were going to have a lot of power. So their homer surge at pitcher-friendly Safeco Field didn't surprise them.

”When you have guys like Hank who have great power, they can hit balls out of any ballpark,” Texas shortstop Michael Young said.

When the Rangers finished last in 2003, they were 28-53 on the road. They're 18-18 away from home this season and gaining more confidence.

”Before, we used to feel very comfortable at home and we'd just try to go out and battle on the road,” Young said. ”Now, we're starting to feel like we can make adjustments and have good at-bats regardless of where we're playing.”

The Rangers beat the Mariners for the seventh straight time this season and eighth of 10 overall.

Young is hitting .327 after going 2-for-6, while Blalock is hitting .315. They're beginning to get noticed.

”Young and Blalock might be as good a two players as there are in the American League. And they're getting better,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said.

Texas won a day after its season-high eight-game winning streak was stopped by Houston. The Mariners have lost six of seven.

The Rangers are 13 games over .500 for the second time this season. After 73 games last season, Texas trailed first-place Seattle by 21 1/2 games and were 19 under .500.

Blalock had his 19th and 20th home runs to tie Boston's Manny Ramirez for the AL lead. It was his third career two-homer game and second of the season.

”He's having an incredible year,” Young said of Blalock. ”Hank's a great hitter. He's a smart hitter. He's got a good plan every time he comes to the plate. When you combine that with his great natural talent, you're going to have a dominant hitter.”

The Mariners got a three-run homer from Bret Boone in the first inning, his 10th and first in 59 at-bats since June 5.

Seattle's Ryan Franklin (3-6) gave up four homers and five runs in five innings. In all, he allowed eight hits and three walks, while striking out four. Franklin is 0-3 with a 12.46 against Texas this season.

”Every pitch they hit out, they should have hit out,” he said.

The Rangers' Ricardo Rodriguez (1-0), in his first major league relief appearance and his first outing since July 1, 2003, pitched 3 2-3 innings to get the win. He gave up a run on five hits and a walk, with one strikeout.

Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.

Devil Rays 10, Blue Jays 2

At St. Petersburg. Fla., Victor Zambrano pitched six solid innings to win his fifth straight decision, and Tampa Bay earned its 16th victory in 18 games.

Geoff Blum and Jose Cruz Jr. homered in support of Zambrano (8-4), who hasn't lost in nine starts since May 15.

Tampa Bay improved to a major league-best 27-8 since May 20 and climbed back over .500 (37-36) two days after becoming the first team in major league history to get above the break-even point after being 18 games below.

Roy Halladay (6-5) allowed seven runs on eight hits in five innings — his shortest outing of the season.

Orioles 10, Royals 1

At Kansas City, Mo., David Newhan had three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Orioles snapped a seven-game road losing streak.

Rookie left-hander Erik Bedard (3-2) pitched 6 1-3 shutout innings for the Orioles, who won for just the second time in 11 road games.

Brian Roberts, Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez each drove in two runs for Baltimore.

The Royals dropped to a season-low 17 games under .500, the worst in the league. They've lost five straight and are 0-4 since trading center fielder Carlos Beltran to Houston.

Darrell May (5-9) lost for the first time in four decisions.