Texas Rangers Win Against Angels will Cost Them The Playoffs

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Texas Sports-When Adrian Beltre's ninth-inning homer off closer Ernesto Frieri bounced up the tunnel behind the left-field fence, the Los Angeles Angels realized another chunk of their fading playoff hopes had just left the building as well.

Beltre hit a tiebreaking two-run shot after Yu Darvish and Zack Greinke dueled through eight innings, and the Texas Rangers dealt yet another blow to their AL West rivals with a 3-1 victory Thursday night.

Texas (89-60) improved the AL's best record and stayed four games ahead of Oakland (85-64) in the AL West by taking two of three from the Angels (81-69), who dropped 4½ games behind the Athletics and Baltimore in the wild-card standings.

The big-budget Angels have lost two straight after winning 15 of 20 in their late playoff push, which appears to be coming up short for the third straight year.