ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Geovany Soto hit a game-ending homer for Texas after A.J. Pierzynski had already gone deep in the ninth off Los Angeles Angels closer Ernesto Frieri, and the Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory Monday night.
Pierzynski led off the ninth by pulling a pitch into the right-field seats, his 11th homer this season snapping a 4-for-27 slump and tying the game. Nelson Cruz followed with a single off Frieri (0-3) before David Murphy grounded into a double play. Soto, who entered the game hitting only .198 this season, then hit a towering flyball to left that easily cleared the wall.
Jason Frasor (1-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for Texas, three days after he gave up a game-ending homer in an 11-inning loss at Cleveland.
Texas had gone 26 innings without scoring a run, two short of the 41-year-old team record, until Ian Kinsler's RBI single in the sixth to get the Rangers within 3-1. They had played 46 innings without leading a game until Soto's second career game-ending homer.
The Texas comeback spoiled another solid effort for Angels starter Jered Weaver, who allowed only one run with six strikeouts over seven innings. The right-hander has a 1.31 ERA (seven runs in 48 innings) his last seven starts.
Dane De La Rosa allowed an unearned run in his inning of relief before Frieri's third blown save in 28 chances.
J.B. Shuck hit his first major league homer for the Angels, who have lost four in a row. Josh Hamilton had a two-run single against his former team.
Matt Garza (1-1) struck out six and allowed three runs over seven innings in his second Texas start since getting traded. The right-hander had won six starts in a row, including his last five for the Chicago Cubs before a winning debut for the Rangers last Wednesday against the New York Yankees when the only run he allowed was unearned after his throwing error.
Weaver had retired 12 in a row before Leonys Martin, in the leadoff spot for the first time in his 124 major league games, had a drag bunt in the sixth. The pitcher fielded the ball along the first-base line, but didn't even attempt a throw since Martin had already run past him.
Martin got to second when Elvis Andrus unsuccessfully tried to bunt for a hit. Ian Kinsler, who went to No. 3 in the order with Martin leading off, followed with an RBI single for the first Texas run in three games, and also ended a scoreless streak of 19 2-3 innings for Weaver.
Andrus extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the eighth, then stole second, went to third on catcher Hank Conger's throwing error and scored on Kinsler's sac fly.
Shuck homered in the fifth, homering in his 323rd career at-bat and 115th game. Later that inning, Erick Aybar drew a walk and Mike Trout had a two-out double before both scored on Hamilton's opposite-field grounder to left against a shifted Rangers infield to make it 3-0.
Hamilton was a five-time All-Star and the 2010 AL MVP during his five seasons in Texas before going to the Angels with a $125 million, five-year contract over the winter.
Just like when the Angels were the opponent for the first Rangers home series in early April, Hamilton was booed each time he came to the plate. He came in hitting only .220 overall, but had two hits Monday and is 11 for 29 (.379) against his former team.
NOTES: Weaver is 15-2 with a 1.72 ERA in July games since 2011. ... The Rangers second ended on a 6-4-3 grounder ? for one out, not the double play usually associated with that sequence. Soto hit a grounder that SS Aybar fielded in the hole and threw to second base, where runner Cruz had already reached. But 2B Howie Kendrick still had plenty of time to get Soto out at first. ... Angels left-hander C.J. Wilson, 7-1 with a 1.96 ERA his last eight starts, is scheduled to start against his former team Tuesday night. He is 0-2 with a 7.65 ERA in five starts against the Rangers, all last season.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rangers-homer-twice-9th-beat-angels-4-3-022940725.html
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