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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Alfonso Soriano is swinging better as he settles into his new role as a run producer.

Soriano homered and drove in three runs and the Texas Rangers routed the Oakland Athletics 16-7 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.

Mark Teixeira and Richard Hidalgo also homered as the Rangers swept a series at Oakland for the first time since April 13-15, 2001. Sandy Alomar Jr. drove in two runs.

Soriano was moved out of the leadoff role last week, and made his sixth appearance in the fifth spot in the order.

"I hit the ball pretty well today but I'm still not feeling comfortable," Soriano said. "Now that I'm batting fifth, I have to drive in runs. I'm getting more opportunities to do that."

Soriano has driven in five runs in the past two games.

"It's kind of like a relief pitcher," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said. "You ask yourself what is your role in the batting order. It's to get hits and drive in runs. It's not overly complicated."

Chan Ho Park gave up five runs and eight hits in a season-low 3 2/3 innings and walked six, one shy of his career high. Park is 0-4 with an 8.16 ERA in six games at Oakland, his highest ERA against any team.

Brian Shouse (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win. Rain caused umpires to stop the game in the middle of the ninth inning, and the umpires called it after a 34-minute wait.

"We were hoping the bullpen would be one of our strengths," Shouse said. "We've struggled here and there but it's been good these past three games. Maybe we're getting out of the starting blocks again."

Dan Haren (1-4) gave up seven runs and seven hits in a season-low 3 2-3 innings, losing his third straight start. Oakland, which allowed its most runs since an 18-3 loss at Colorado on July 18, 2000, matched a season high with its third defeat in a row.

"Haren got himself into a rut," A's manager Ken Macha said. "They caught up with his fastball. We had a three-run lead but it didn't take them long to regain it. We had people on, we hit home runs, but we couldn't pitch."

Scott Hatteberg and Erubiel Durazo homered for Oakland. The teams combined for 28 hits and 15 walks, and all 18 batters in the starting lineup reached base.

"I don't care if it's home or away, when you win three in a row against a team in your division, you make up some ground," Teixeira said. "We had some good at-bats, and when we got pitches we didn't miss them."

Jason Kendall scored on Eric Chavez's groundout in the first, and Hatteberg's two-run homer in the third made it 3-0.

Texas then surged ahead in the fourth, when its first four batters reached. Soriano's homer and Alomar's RBI groundout tied the score, David Dellucci and Mike Young hit run-scoring singles and Teixeira's eighth homer put the Rangers ahead 7-3.

Durazo's two-run homer cut it to 7-5 in the bottom half, but Alomar hit an RBI single in the fifth, and Texas added Soriano's RBI double and Hidalgo's run-scoring single in the sixth.

Hatteberg's two-run single off Doug Brocail in the bottom half pulled Oakland to 10-7, but the Rangers broke open the game with a six-run eighth.

"Today was just an ugly day," Kendall said. "What are you going to do?"

Laynce Nix singled home a run and Hidalgo hit a three-run homer against Kiko Calero, who allowed his first runs of the season after 8 1/3 scoreless innings in his previous seven outings. Gary Matthews Jr. scored on a wild pitch and Hank Blalock added an RBI single.

Game notes

Rangers OF Kevin Mench missed his third straight game with a sore elbow sustained when he was hit by a pitch by Boston's Matt Clement on Sunday. ... A's OF Mark Kotsay missed the game with flu-like symptoms. ... Kendall became Oakland's first leadoff hitter this season other than Kotsay. ... RHP Pedro Astacio has not faced three major league teams: Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota, the Rangers' next three opponents. ... Teixeira has hit safely in nine straight games. ... Blalock batted twice in both the fourth and eighth innings.