"Rich Harden turned in his finest performance of the season, taking a no-hitter into the sixth and allowing two hits in seven innings as the Rangers won their fourth straight game, 4-2 over Oakland on Monday night.

It was Harden's longest outing of the season and the first time in six starts that the right-hander didn't issue a walk. He allowed only a double to Rajai Davis in the sixth and a single to Eric Chavez in the seventh.

Chavez also reached base in the second inning on a strange play that resulted in the ejection of Rangers manager Ron Washington.

Harden fielded Chavez's chopper and took it to first base for the out. The umpires, though, decided Harden missed the base and gave Chavez first base on an error.

Washington argued after the initial out call was overturned and was tossed for the second time in four games.

Michael Young had an RBI double and Josh Hamilton followed with a run-scoring single as the Rangers scored twice with two outs in the fifth inning to give Harden a three-run cushion.

The Rangers scored their first run in the fourth, when a groundout by Ryan Garko brought in Vladimir Guerrero. Justin Smoak drove in the final run in the ninth when he crushed a solo homer off Jerry Blevins.

It was just enough. Oakland struck for two runs against Frank Francisco in the ninth. But Neftali Feliz, pitching on back-to-back days for the second time in his career, entered with a man on first and got the final three outs.

Harden struck out nine in his 108-pitch effort. He had a 1-2-3 first inning, his first perfect inning since April 12, and retired 12 straight after the error in the second. "