Led by Mike Trout’s 2 HRs, Angels power past Rangers

Jorge Soler hit a two-run go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth and Mike Trout belted two home runs and drove in three runs to power the Los Angeles Angels to an 11-8 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Calif.

It was the 29th multi-homer game of Trout’s career and third of the season. Travis d’Arnaud also homered and had two hits and two runs scored and Zach Neto added two hits and two runs scored for Los Angeles. Jose Fermin (2-0) picked up the win with a hitless inning of relief and Kenley Jansen notched his 16th save with a scoreless ninth.

Marcus Semien homered and drove in four runs, Kyle Higashioka homered and had two hits and two RBIs, Josh Smith had two doubles and two runs scored and Wyatt Langford added two hits, two runs scored and also stole two bases for Texas, which lost for the third time in four games.

Luke Jackson (2-5) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on four hits in an inning of relief.

Texas took a 1-0 lead in the first when Smith led off with a double into the right field corner, advanced to third on a flyout to right by Corey Seager and scored on a ground out by Semien.

The Rangers extended the lead to 3-0 in the third on a leadoff homer by Higashioka and a sacrifice fly by Semien but the Angels answered with four runs in the bottom half to take a 4-3 lead highlighted by a two-run homer by Trout, a 426-foot drive to center.

Texas took a 5-4 lead in the fourth when Langford led off with a single, stole second and third and scored on a fielder’s choice by Burger, who took second on a throwing error to the plate by Angels starter Kyle Hendricks. One out later, Smith drove in Burger with a single.

Los Angeles tied it, 5-5, in the bottom of the fourth on d’Arnaud’s sixth home run, a 397-foot drive to right-center, and took a 6-5 lead an inning later on Trout’s second homer of the game and 394th of his career, a 378-foot line drive to right-center.

Texas tied it, 6-6, in the sixth on an RBI single by Higashioka and then took an 8-6 lead in the seventh on Semien’s 10th homer, a 423-foot two-run drive to left-center.

Los Angeles tied it, 8-8, on a two-run single by Taylor Ward and then scored three times in the eighth off Jackson, highlighted by Soler’s towering 421-foot two-run homer down the left field line.