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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Mark Teixeira sat at his locker a humbled man on Tuesday night. Joining a list that includes only Joe DiMaggio, Ralph Kiner, Eddie Mathews and Albert Pujols will have that effect.

AL wild-card standings
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Yankees	77	60	.562	--
Indians	77	61	.558	½
A's	76	62	.551	1½
Twins	72	666	.522	5½

Teixeira's three-run homer in the ninth inning made him just the fifth player in major league history to hit 100 in his first three seasons and lifted the Texas Rangers to a 10-7 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Teixeira's 433-foot blast off Twins closer Joe Nathan capped a wild night at the Metrodome and allowed him to join those four distinguished hitters in an elite club.

"Any time you get named in a list like that, it's very humbling," Teixeira said. "You see the careers those guys have had, and the career Pujols is going to have, it's nice to be a part of that group."

Trailing 7-6 against Nathan (7-4) in the ninth, Gary Matthews Jr. and Rod Barajas hit consecutive one-out singles. After David Dellucci struck out, Michael Young tied the game with an RBI single.

Teixeira followed with his 36th homer, a shot that slammed off one of the suites in right field.

"We got the lead, we just couldn't hold it," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That hasn't happened very often."

It was the Twins' first loss in 53 games when leading after eight innings.

Nathan, however, has stumbled a bit of late after a brilliant two months following the All-Star break. He gave up the tying run in the top of the ninth of a win over Cleveland on Saturday night and gave up a homer to Ben Broussard before getting his 35th save on Sunday.

"I feel great," Nathan said. "Right now, it's just location. I've left some balls over the plate the last couple of outings."

John Wasdin (2-1) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win.

Francisco Cordero came on in the ninth for his 31st save, dealing the Twins a heartbreaking loss after they had rallied from a 5-0 deficit.

"This is a huge loss. It's one of the more disappointing of this season," Nathan said. "For our team to battle back, for them to do what they did and the way the guys threw before, it was awesome."

Dellucci had a grand slam and tied a career high with five RBI for the Rangers, who raced out to the big lead against Twins starter Kyle Lohse in the first two innings.

Young hit a solo homer for Texas in the first, and Dellucci came through with his third career grand slam, and second of the season, the next inning for the 5-0 lead.

That was it for Lohse, who gave up five runs and four hits in two innings, his shortest start since July 26, 2003, when he lasted 1 2/3 innings at Cleveland.

But one night after being criticized by starter Carlos Silva following a 7-0 loss to the Rangers, the Twins' offense responded.

Texas starter Kenny Rogers entered the game having pitched 17 consecutive scoreless innings against the Twins, including a complete game shutout against his former team on May 14.

Jason Tyner and Brent Abernathy ended the streak at 18 innings with RBI singles in the second, making it 5-2.

After Dellucci hit an RBI single in the fourth off Matt Guerrier, the Twins scored two runs in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a misplay by Dellucci in right field.

Dellucci misjudged a high fly by Shannon Stewart, and the ball dropped in, allowing Jason Bartlett to score from second and Stewart to get to third.

Abernathy followed with an RBI single to make it 6-4.

Juan Castro's two-run homer tied it 6-6 in the fifth and Matthew LeCroy gave the Twins a 7-6 lead in the sixth. His RBI single chased Rogers, who gave up seven runs, five earned, and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Castro's homer was the Twins' first in a week. They hadn't hit one since Aug. 30, a span of 216 plate appearances and 195 at-bats.

"I'm proud of the guys," Gardenhire said. "To come back from 5-0, we lost the game, but we put up a pretty good fight. But that's not what we need right now. We need wins."

With the New York Yankees' loss to Tampa Bay, the Twins remained 5½ games back in the AL wild-card race.

"There's nothing to say," Castro said. "We lost the game."

Game notes

Gardenhire felt poorly before the game after undergoing a stress test earlier in the day. He said that the tests showed he was fine. ... Young's homer was his 21st of the season, leaving him one short of his career high last year. ... Abernathy snapped an 0-for-14 streak with a single in the second. ... Lew Ford of the Twins extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games.