ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) _ Tim Salmon went 4-for-5 with two homers and five RBIs Saturday night as the Anaheim Angels beat Texas 15-3, ending the Rangers' hopes of home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The AL West champion Rangers are bound for New York, where they will open a best-of-5 series against the AL East champion Yankees on Tuesday night.

Salmon hit a two-run homer off Rick Helling (13-11) in the fourth inning and a three-run shot, his 16th, off reliever Danny Patterson in the seventh to give the Angels an 8-3 lead.

The score was tied at 3 in the sixth before Helling allowed sacrifice flies to Garret Anderson and Jeff Huson.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa (4-6) was hit hard in two innings but picked up the victory when the Angels rallied.

Anaheim broke it open with seven runs in the seventh. After Salmon's homer, Huson added another sacrifice fly, Jeff DaVanon hit a two-run triple and Jim Edmonds added an RBI double, making it 12-3.

Mo Vaughn, who went 3-for-4 and scored four runs, gave the Angels a 1-0 lead with his 33rd homer in the first. Salmon, who also scored four times, made it 3-0 with his two-run shot in the fourth.

Helling has allowed 41 home runs, most in the majors. He broke the Texas record of 40 set by Ferguson Jenkins in 1979.

Al Levine, making his first big league start, blanked the Rangers on three hits over four innings.

Texas rallied to tie it against Hasegawa, scoring three runs in the fifth on Royce Clayton's 14th homer, Ivan Rodriguez's sacrifice fly and Juan Gonzalez's RBI single.

Helling gave up five runs _ four earned _ and six hits in six innings. He is 0-4 in his last five starts, allowing 35 hits and 26 runs in 27 2-3 innings over that stretch.

Anderson had a two-run double in the ninth off John Wetteland.

Notes: Rusty Greer, hit by a Mike Holtz pitch Friday night, sat out the game with a bruised elbow. X-rays were negative, but Greer had discomfort during batting practice. ... Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez picked Troy Glaus off first base in the fourth, his 10th pickoff of the season. ... Luis Alicea served as the Rangers' DH in his first action since pulling his right calf muscle on Sept. 13. ... Gonzalez was also back in the Texas lineup after missing Friday's game to stay in Dallas for 3-year-old daughter Gabriela's ear surgery. ... Levine, whose first big-league start came after 120 relief appearances, has made 96 minor league starts.