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ST. LOUIS -- In stunning fashion, the Texas Rangers rallied from a 3-0 deficit with four outs remaining to extend their winning streak to five games. Two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth against the St. Louis Cardinals' bullpen enabled Texas to notch a 4-3 win on Saturday at Busch Stadium.
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Ian Desmond's sacrifice fly to left in the ninth scored Jurickson Profar with the tie-breaking run, handing the victory to reliever Shawn Tolleson (1-2).
Shin-Soo Choo tied the game by taking a bases-loaded walk, plating Rougned Odor.
Odor and Profar led off the inning with singles against closer Trevor Rosenthal (2-2), who hit Robinson Chirinos with a pitch to load the bases.
Kevin Siegrist relieved Rosenthal and induced a short fly out to center from pinch-hitter Ryan Rua before Choo's walk and Desmond's winning fly ball.
Jake Diekman worked a clean ninth to earn his second save as the Rangers (44-25) won their fifth straight game, improving to 7-2 on their 10-game trip.
It was the fourth straight loss for St. Louis (35-32), all at home against American League West teams. In falling to 15-20 at home, the Cardinals wasted a superb outing from starter Carlos Martinez.
The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up only four hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Denied his fourth straight win by the bullpen collapse, Martinez had a no-decision for the first time in 13 starts this year.
Martinez also initiated a two-run outburst in the fifth off Nick Martinez with a one-out single up the middle. Matt Carpenter walked and Kolten Wong, making his first major league start in center field, grounded a single to right that scored Carlos Martinez.
Nick Martinez hit Matt Holliday with a pitch to fill the bases and Stephen Piscotty's RBI single made it 3-0, chasing Martinez after 4 1/3 innings. The spot starter gave up six hits and three runs, walking two and striking out one.
Cesar Ramos relieved Martinez and pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, giving Texas a chance to come from behind. The Rangers pulled to within a run in the eighth with a two-out rally fueled by help from the St. Louis defense.
Choo singled and Desmond doubled off reliever Seung Hwan Oh. With Nomar Mazara batting, Oh threw a wild pitch that allowed Choo to score, and first baseman Matt Adams booted Mazara's grounder to plate Desmond.
St. Louis started the scoring in the second when Yadier Molina stroked a one-out single to center that scored Jhonny Peralta, who doubled on the previous pitch.
NOTES: St. Louis recalled OF Tommy Pham from Triple-A Memphis and optioned OF Randal Grichuk to Memphis. Grichuk was the team's cleanup hitter at the start of the season, but hit only .206 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs in 62 games. ... Texas improved it to 15-4 in one-run games this season, best in the majors. ... The Cardinals signed RHP Dakota Hudson, the 34th overall pick in last week's First-Year Player Draft. Hudson, who was 9-5 with a 2.55 ERA as the Friday night starter at Mississippi State, signed for a $2-million bonus, slightly above slot value.
