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Martin's homer lifts Rangers in 10th inning

ARLINGTON, Texas -- For the second consecutive night, the Texas Rangers used late-inning heroics to overcome the Los Angeles Angels.

After Geovany Soto's walk-off home run lifted Texas to a victory Monday night, Leonys Martin provided the fireworks Tuesday. Martin belted a three-run, game-winning home run over the left field fence for a 14-11 victory in 10 innings.

"It's the biggest moment that I have had in my whole career," said Martin, a 25-year-old in his third major league season. "Last night I had a dream like that because of the game last night. I was looking for one good pitch, and I didn't want to hit a rolling ground ball."

Martin's walk-off hit was the first of his career on a night in which he finished 2-for-7 in his second start from the leadoff position.

"He's shown that he can do that," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He has hit some doubles down the left field line, but the most important thing is that he got a pitch up in the zone and he stayed on it."

The Rangers recorded consecutive walk-off wins for the third time in club history.

Texas (58-49) claimed back-to-back victories for the first time since winning three in a row July 7-9. The Rangers won for just the third time in eight attempts, and they improved to 4-8 since the All-Star break.

The 14 runs were the most by Texas this season. The Rangers plated a combined four runs in their previous three games.

"It's been a long time coming," Washington said of his team's offensive outburst. "Tonight we proved we are capable of it. We just kept battling."

The Rangers picked up a game on the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics for the first time since June 27. With the A's falling 5-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays, Texas ended the day five games back of Oakland.

Los Angeles (48-57) lost its fifth consecutive game, as Ernesto Frieri blew his second save attempt in as many nights.

The Angels led 11-7 after scoring four times in the top of the eighth. Josh Hamilton provided four RBIs on two hits, Mike Trout tied a career high with four hits, and Mark Trumbo and Collin Cowgill homered.

"We kept fighting back," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We couldn't have done much more on the offensive side than we did. Give the Rangers credit; they battled back the whole game as we did."

Soto helped bring Texas to within a run in the eighth with his second homer in as many nights, this time a three-run home run to left.

Adrian Beltre knotted the game at 11-11 with two outs in the ninth by bringing home Ian Kinsler from second -- Kinsler's third run of the game.

Texas starter Derek Holland wound up with a no-decision. The left-hander pitched six innings, striking out six while giving up four runs on eight hits.

His bullpen gave up seven runs in the seventh and eighth, three charged to Joakim Soria -- the first against him this season. Tanner Scheppers gave up four runs, though only one was earned.

Texas, having ended a 26-inning scoreless drought in Monday's win over the Angels, pushed six runs across the plate in the first four innings Tuesday.

Angels starter C.J. Wilson allowed six earned runs on 11 hits in four innings. The left-hander had thrown at least 6 2/3 innings in each of his previous five starts.

"I thought he made some good pitches but missed some, and it was a lot of pitches to get through his day," Scioscia said. "They got a lot of two-out hits against him, and after four innings he had a lot of pitches thrown (109)."

Wilson is winless in six starts against his former club.

NOTES: Scioscia was ejected from the game in the bottom of the second for arguing a call made at first. The ejection was his second of the season and 36th of his career. ... Texas SS Elvis Andrus extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a double in the first inning. ... Rangers DH Lance Berkman jogged the bases and took an indoor batting cage session before the game. Berkman said he will make his decision soon about if he will return this season from a hip injury. ... Angels 2B Howie Kendrick became the ninth player in Angels history to reach 1,000 hits after he singled in the eighth.