MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- With their postseason hopes fading, the Minnesota Twins appeared to be well on their way toward a dramatic comeback win against the Texas Rangers . Mark Teixeira had other plans.

Teixeira launched a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning as the Rangers rallied for four runs against Joe Nathan en route to a 10-7 victory over the Twins.

The Twins (72-66) are 5 1/2 games behind New York (77-60) in the American League wild card standings with just 24 games remaining. Minnesota, which had erased a five-run deficit earlier in the contest, lost for the first time this year when leading after eight innings.

"To come back from 5-0, we lost the game, but we put up a pretty good fight," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "But that's not what we need right now, we need wins."

Leading 7-6, the Twins handed the ball to Nathan (7-4), their All-Star closer. The Rangers responded by scoring four runs against the righthander to improve to 4-62 when trailing after eight.

After rookie Adrian Gonzalez struck out, Gary Matthews Jr. and Rod Barajas ripped back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. David Dellucci struck out, but Michael Young tied the game with an RBI base hit into center field.

"I think I hit something off-speed," said Young, who recorded his major league-leading 57th multi-hit game. "In that situation, the last thing you want to do is look for pitches against a guy who has that good of stuff. I was just looking for something I could handle."

Young has hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games, batting .380 over that stretch. Young, who belted his 21st homer in the opening frame, owns a league-leading .328 average for the season.

" Michael Young is the best hitter in the game right now," Teixeira said. "With the game on the line, I want him up there. I expect him to get a hit every time up. You couldn't have scripted it any better for us."

Teixeira then blasted Nathan's 1-0 offering deep into the right field seats for his 36th homer of the season and 100th of his career as the Rangers took a 10-7 lead.

Teixeira joins Ralph Kiner , Albert Pujols , Eddie Mathews and Joe DiMaggio as the only players in major league history to hit 100 homers in their first three seasons.

"That is pretty good company," Texas manager Buck Showalter said. "It gives you an idea what kind of start Mark is off to in his career."

"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."

It was the fifth blown save of the year for Nathan, who has yielded seven runs in just five innings against Texas this year.

"I had my chances," Nathan said. "They've been hitting all season. That lineup, up and down the order, you have to be careful with everyone."

Despite striking out in the pivotal ninth, Dellucci enjoyed a career night for the Rangers, who have won six of seven and 12 of their last 16 games. Dellucci belted his second grand slam of the season and third career in the second and added a run-scoring single in the fourth to match a career high with five RBI.

John Wasdin (2-1) tossed 2 1/3 frames of perfect relief to notch the win and Francisco Cordero logged the ninth to convert his 31st save.

The win overshadowed a poor outing from Texas starter Kenny Rogers , who yielded seven runs - five earned - and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. The controversial lefthander walked two and struck out two.

Minnesota starter Kyle Lohse was equally bad, allowing five runs, four hits and one walk with three strikeouts in just two frames - his shortest outing since lasting just 1 2/3 innings at Cleveland July 26, 2003.

"Five runs in two innings, you can't go with that," Gardenhire said. "We're in a pennant race."

Prior to their catastrophic ninth-inning collapse, the Twins scored runs in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth to battle back from a 5-0 deficit.

With Minnesota trailing 6-4, Lew Ford opened the fifth by reaching on an error by Young. Two batters later, Juan Castro belted his fifth homer of the season to tie the game.

Shannon Stewart hit a leadoff triple in the sixth and scored the go-ahead run three batters later on Matt LeCroy's two-out single.