OAKLAND, Calif. – He is a .251 career hitter. He has below-average power. When the Rangers found him last year, he hadn't played in more than 52 major league games in three seasons. He was supposed to be the extra infielder on a team where the infielders played every day.

Be that as it may, facts can't dispute this: When Ramon Vazquez is in the Rangers' lineup, they are a winning team.

On Saturday, the Rangers won their fourth consecutive game, beating Oakland, 6-3, to tie Seattle for third place in the AL West. Vazquez has started three of them. Saturday, the role player played a huge factor in the Rangers' win. He had a hand in the two innings in which the Rangers scored five of their runs.

Since he joined the Rangers last May when Hank Blalock needed surgery to improve blood flow to his right arm last season, the club is 63-54 when Vazquez plays; 52-44 when he starts.

"He is one of the smartest guys I've ever played with," shortstop Michael Young said. "He does all the little things well. He knows how to handle every situation."

The situation Vazquez was handed Saturday was the leadoff spot. He was handed it 30 minutes before game time when Ian Kinsler was scratched because of an achy hamstring. Vazquez had originally been in the lineup but was hitting ninth.

In the first inning, Vazquez worked his way through a seven-pitch at-bat against Chad Gaudin before finding a fastball to line to center field for a single.

"I just wanted to see what his stuff was like," Vazquez said. "You know what guys throw, but you want to know what is working for them that night and what isn't. I wanted to give our guys a chance to see what was working for him."

The Rangers followed Vazquez's lead and worked Gaudin hard in the first. Vazquez went to second when Milton Bradley battled back from an 0-2 count to take a nine-pitch, two-out walk that pushed Gaudin's pitch count above 20.

When Gaudin's 26th pitch of the inning, a flat 90-mph fastball stayed in the hitting zone, David Murphy lined it over the fence in right-center to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead.

"You can ask him to do anything," manager Ron Washington said. "He knows how to play the game, and he never gets outside of what he can do."

A 5-0 lead evaporated to 5-3 by the end of the eighth, but Chris Shelton hit his first homer since being called up in the ninth. Joaquin Benoit, filling in as closer after C.J. Wilson pitched on three consecutive days, had a 1-2-3 ninth.

They all played roles in the Rangers' fourth consecutive win. But none bigger than Vazquez.

"I'm no secret weapon," Vazquez said. "I didn't do anything special."