OAKLAND, CALIF. ? Alex Rodriguez became furious when he thought he saw Oakland starter Cory Lidle laughing after hitting him with a pitch.

So the second time it happened, the Rangers’ shortstop let his feelings known and Texas came alive.

Texas Reliever John Rocker delivers to Oakland's Miguel Tejada in the ninth inning of Thursday's game in Oakland, Calif. Tejada stuck out with two men on base and Texas won, 7-5.

The Rangers scored five runs in the sixth inning after Rodriguez was hit again by Lidle, and Texas went on to beat the Athletics 7-5 on Thursday.

“Maybe we were asleep,” Rodriguez said.

The loss snapped the Athletics’ 20-game home winning streak. It was the fifth-longest in the majors since 1901.

The A’s had not lost at the Coliseum in the regular season since last Aug. 24 against Detroit, though the Yankees beat them there in the playoffs.

John Rocker made his first appearance for Texas and had trouble holding a 7-2 lead in the ninth inning.

The first two batters reached base against Rocker and rookie Carlos Pena hit a three-run homer. With one out, Frank Menechino singled and Scott Hatteberg walked. Rocker stayed in the game and hung on, getting David Justice on a fly ball and whiffing Miguel Tejada.

Bill Haselman hit a three-run home run as the Rangers recorded their first victory of the season after three losses to the A’s. Texas had lost six straight overall to Oakland.

When Rodriguez was plunked by Lidle (0-1) for the second time to lead off sixth, he appeared to curse at the right-hander. The benches emptied, but no scuffles ensued and there were no ejections.

Lidle said he wasn’t trying to hit him. After all, the score was too close with the A’s leading 2-1.

“The guy makes a ton of money, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s smart,” Lidle said. “He should look at the scoreboard and realize I’m not trying to hit him.”

Rodriguez said he saw video after taking Lidle’s first pitch in the first inning, and it appeared the pitcher was laughing.

“You can take any spin on it you want, but that really ticked me off,” he said. “You have to play the game with respect.”

Doug Davis (1-0), who was 3-0 with a 2.75 ERA against the A’s last season, allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out five.

Blue Jays 7, Twins 2

Toronto Roy Halladay pitched eight strong innings, rookie Eric Hinske hit three doubles and the Blue Jays won their home opener.

Halladay (1-0) allowed one earned run and five hits, three of them infield singles. He struck out eight and walked none.

The 24-year-old right-hander, who won five of his last seven decisions last season, threw 76 strikes and just 20 balls.

At this time last year, Halladay was in Class A ball after the Blue Jays sent him sent him back to the minors to redevelop his pitching style and regain his confidence. Toronto’s Homer Bush said the Blue Jays will contend if Halladay continues to pitch well.

“Doc was on today,” Bush said. “That’s the kind of performance we need.

“People started to question our pitching after the last game, but we got some really good young arms that can do the job for us big time.”

Toronto’s Carlos Delgado reached base in his first 10 plate appearances of the season before popping out in the eighth.

Delgado hit an RBI single and walked three times. He went 3-for-3 with a walk and was twice hit by a pitch in the season-opening win over Boston on Monday.

Jacque Jones went 2-for-4 for the Twins, who swept their two-game series against Kansas City.

Joe Mays (0-1) allowed four runs on nine hits in just three-plus innings.

After Jones led off the game with an infield single off Halladay’s glove, Doug Mientkiewicz hit an RBI double.

Minnesota’s Torii Hunter reached second base on shortstop Felipe Lopez’s throwing in the fourth inning. Corey Koskie followed with an RBI single, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead.

Devil Rays 9, Tigers 2

St. Petersburg, Fla. Manager Hal McRae doesn’t know how far the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are going this season. He didn’t make any predictions during spring training, and the team’s 3-0 start hasn’t changed his position.

“I don’t know what we can do. I’m just happy we’re playing well now,” McRae said Thursday after baseball’s youngest and lowest-paid team finished a season-opening sweep of the Detroit Tigers.

Randy Winn hit a pinch-hit grand slam and Ben Grieve, Brent Abernathy and Chris Gomez also homered as the Devil Rays became just the seventh team to start 3-0 after losing 100 or more games the previous season.

Tampa Bay is three games over .500 for the first time since April 24, 1999 19 games into its second season. It’s also the first time the club has been in first place in the AL East after opening day.

Ryan Rupe, on a 100-pitch count, limited the Tigers to three hits in seven shutout innings. He threw 99 pitches, struck out seven and walked none.

Yankees 4, Orioles 1

Baltimore Mike Mussina pitched seven shutout innings and Robin Ventura hit his second go-ahead homer in as many nights, a three-run shot.

Rookie Nick Johnson also homered for the Yankees, who won twice at Camden Yards after losing the season opener.

Ventura, obtained in a December trade with the New York Mets, hit an 0-2 pitch from Sidney Ponson (0-1) over the center-field wall to put the Yankees up 3-0 in the fourth.

That was enough offense for Mussina (1-0), who improved to 4-1 against his former team. The right-hander allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one.

Mike Stanton pitched the eighth. Jay Tessmer started the ninth, but left after a pair of walks. Mariano Rivera gave up an RBI single to Melvin Mora before getting the last two outs for his second save.