Scott Hatteberg and Mark Ellis, two hitters who repeatedly provided a big part of the Oakland's offensive pop during the club's 17-10 April, again looked like the run producers from that period Tuesday. Each hit home runs, providing three-quarters of Oakland's RBIs as the A's took the first game of a three-game set.

Hatteberg's homer, a two-run shot in the first, was his second in three games, and put Oakland up 2-1 after one inning.

From there, A's starter Ted Lilly kept things in control. After giving up a single run in a shaky first, Lilly, who allowed five home runs in his last start, retired 13 of the next 14 batters before giving up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Carl Everett in the fifth to tie the game at two.

Ellis' homer in the sixth put the A's up for good and gave Lilly the victory. A solo shot just over the left-field wall, the blast was the second-year second baseman's fourth of the season, and first since April.

It was the fifth straight game in which Ellis has a hit after seeing his average dip to .243 earlier this month. In April, he was one of Oakland's most productive offensive players, hitting .291 with three homers and 14 RBIs.

A's manager Ken Macha was impressed by Ellis' 2-for-3 evening, especially his patience at the plate.

"He got the hits with high pitch count at-bats," Macha said.

"He saw a lot of pitches, fought off the tough pitches, and wound up getting a good ball to hit and not missing it. Those at-bats were terrific."

The ever-humble Ellis, a South Dakota native who is slowly rising up the list of career home run hitters from his home state (he's currently fourth with 11), isn't quite ready to say things are back to April-good, but he is happy in the direction he's heading.

"Things were just going my way in April," Ellis added.

"I had some hits fall in. But I feel good. I've hit the ball hard over the last few days."

Hatteberg was also was an April star, hitting .315 with two homers and 12 RBIs in the season's first month. With two homers in his last three games, he's starting to return to that form.

"You're going to go through lulls, we went through one pretty much the last month as a team, and they can get contagious," Hatteberg said.

"The swing's a funny thing. It comes and goes. You've got to swing your way through it.

"I feel like I'm doing good ... I hope it stays -- it's a roller coaster," he added.

Miguel Tejada on a crest himself, playing in his Major League leading 500th consecutive game, added an insurance homer later in the sixth to put Oakland up, 4-2.

The Rangers rallied for a run in the eighth off reliever Chad Bradford, but Keith Foulke sat Texas down with a perfect ninth for his 17th save of the season, which sealed the victory.

Ted Lilly earned his first win in six starts and broke a three-game losing streak. His previous victory came May 13 at Detroit, and he pitched with a lead for the first time since the seventh inning of that game. But Lilly allowed the Rangers to tie it 2-2 on Carl Everett's sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Lilly was coming off one of the worst outings of his career in which he gave up five home runs to the Atlanta Braves last week.

He can finally forget about that one.

It was an important victory for Lilly (4-5), who allowed five hits and two earned runs, striking out four. It was the left-hander's first win since May 13, going five starts without a victory.

"I didn't ever want to get caught up in it and think about it too much, but it still is (big)," Lilly said.

"I have (gone back over it). It's hard not to when you struggle. You have to find a way to get back in a groove."

"You want to go out there and win. You want your team to win -- at least keep them in the game and give them a chance."

His teammates could tell.

"When Ellis hit that home run, Eric Chavez said 'Good -- it's nice to get one for Ted,'" Macha said.

"So it's nice that everybody's in here pulling for everybody."