ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Dave Eiland crumpled to the ground, but Tampa Bay's chances for victory didn't go down with him. The Devil Rays rallied around Bryan Rekar to defeat the Oakland Athletics.

"After the first inning, it seemed bleak," closer Roberto Hernandez said after Rekar allowed one run and six hits in a club-record 5 2/3 innings of relief to beat the A's 6-4 Tuesday night in the opener of a 10-game homestand.

"When your starter goes out after six or seven pitches, it's a tough spot for a guy in the bullpen, especially Rekar," Hernandez said. "It turned out to be positive. He didn't have to think about if he was going to pitch or not."

Eiland threw 12 pitches before leaving with an injured right hip, an injury that landed him on the 15-day disabled list. He's the third Tampa Bay starter to go on the DL, joining Juan Guzman and Wilson Alvarez.

"It's pretty sore right now. It's hard to say how serious it is or where we go from here," said Eiland, who was hurt on a pitch to Oakland's Randy Velarde in the first inning.

"It felt like my hip was popping in and out of joint. That's not possible, they say, but that's what it felt like. It was real scary, but I know now it's not like there's structural damage to the hip or anything."

John Flaherty homered and Jose Canseco drove in three runs for the Devil Rays, who won for just the fourth time in 13 games. The A's, who stopped a season-high five-game losing streak Sunday, have dropped six of seven.

Rekar (1-2), who won the first time since beating the Florida Marlins last July 10, couldn't have picked a better time for his strong outing. He is 0-2 with a 8.03 ERA in three starts this season.

"It was meaningful to be able to go that long a distance in a single game. It's a pretty tough thing to do, I would imagine, for most relievers," Rekar said. "But I'd rather have it as a starter, seeing how many I could go."

Flaherty hit a solo homer off Omar Olivares (3-5) in the second inning and added an RBI single in Tampa Bay's two-run third. Canseco had a RBI single off the A's starter in the third and singled off T.J. Mathews with the base loaded to drive in two more runs in the seventh.

Eiland faced two batters. He retired leadoff man Terrence Long on a fly ball, then crumpled to the ground in pain as he followed through on his fourth pitch to Velarde.

The 33-year-old right-hander, who spent time on the disabled list last season with left hip bursitis, was unable to put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the field by a trainer and second baseman Miguel Cairo.

Rekar allowed Miguel Tejada's seventh homer in the second inning, but repeatedly worked out of jams in the next four innings as the A's went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded six against the right-hander.

Flaherty's homer wiped out a 1-0 deficit, and the Devil Rays took a 2-1 lead when Cairo singled with two outs in the second and scored on a double by Gerald Williams. Tampa Bay added two runs in the third on the RBI singles by Canseco and Flaherty, who would have had a double if Canseco hadn't rounded second base and decided to return to the bag.

A pair of errors by Tampa Bay shortstop Kevin Stocker led to an unearned run that trimmed Oakland's deficit to 4-2 in the seventh. The run was charged to Mark Guthrie, who replaced Rekar at the beginning of the inning.

Velarde had a two-run single off Hernandez in the eighth to make the score 6-4. Hernandez got the last five outs for his fourth save.

The Devil Rays, who had 10 hits off Olivares in six-plus innings, loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. With Oakland playing him to pull the ball to the left, Canseco singled between first and second base to drive in Tampa Bay's last two runs.

Although the defensive shift didn't work against Canseco, Oakland manager Art Howe said it was sound strategy.

"He just cued it off the end of the bat," Howe said. "He wasn't trying to hit that way. He broke his bat. That's the way it goes."

Game notes
Tejada's fifth career homer against Tampa Bay came in his 53rd at bat against the Devil Rays ... Tampa Bay, which has played the fewest home games (16) in the AL, began a stretch in which it will play 19 of 25 games at Tropicana Field ... Oakland's Olmedo Saenz, who singled off Jim Mecir in the seventh, is 4-for-7 as a pinch-hitter ... Stocker has nine errors in 39 games.