ARLINGTON, Texas, May 21 (UPI) -- Ruben Sierra had his first multi-hit game in three weeks Wednesday night, driving in the go-ahead run with a seventh-inning single, and rookie Mark Teixeira had four RBI as the Texas Rangers outslugged the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 8-7.
Texas has won five in a row.
After Tampa Bay pinch-hitter Jason Tyner tied the game at 7-7 with an RBI single in the top of the seventh, Sierra gave Texas the lead for good with a two-out, RBI single against Jesus Colome (1-2).
The 37-year-old Sierra has hit in five straight games, but had not recorded more than one hit in a game since getting six hits in his last 13 April at bats.
Francisco Cordero (2-4), who gave up Tyner's hit but escaped further trouble in the seventh, pitched into and out of a jam in the eighth before Ugueth Urbina came on to record his American League-leading 14th save.
The Devil Rays scored first, getting on the board in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Julio Lugo, but that run was unlikely to hold up in a matchup of starters who entered the game with ERAs over 9.00.
Texas scored five runs in the bottom of the third to knock out starter Jim Parque, a rally highlighted by Teixeira's two-run triple. In 2 1/3 innings, Parque allowed five runs and seven hits with a strikeout, raising his ERA to 11.94.
Texas starter Alan Benes, who allowed Tampa Bay to tie the game on an RBI single by Carl Crawford in the fourth, allowed five runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Benes' ERA rose to 11.57, but because Teixeira hit a two-run homer off Brandon Backe in the bottom of the fourth, he left with a chance for his first win of the season. The Texas bullpen squandered that chance.
Benes has not won more than two games in a season since notching nine victories in 1997. He has six wins since then.
