Rangers Beat Orioles
BALTIMORE — The Rangers got a little help from a lot of places Thursday night, as nine players posted hits and five pitchers combined to help Texas snap a two-game losing streak.
Jonathan Lucroy hit a solo homer, and Ian Desmond added two RBIs as the Rangers earned a 5-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles to salvage the finale of a three-game series.
Eight of the nine Texas starters got hits — with Mitch Moreland adding another after coming off the bench.
The Rangers finished with 11 hits, seven of which went for extra bases, including a season-high six doubles, and created numerous offensive chances despite finishing 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
“To get away with this win tonight (in a) close ballgame is (good),” Texas manager Jeff Banister said. “Our guys got some nice production up and down the lineup.”
The Rangers (63-46) also got some good production on the mound.
Starter A.J. Griffin (5-1) threw 5 2/3 innings of three-run ball, and Keone Kela, Jeremy Jeffress, Matt Bush and Sam Dyson held the Orioles scoreless the rest of the way. Dyson pitched one inning fot his 23rd save.
Lucroy homered in the second inning to give the Rangers a lead they never lost. It was his
first homer since he came to Texas from the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade on Monday. He was glad to see the Rangers’ offense break out a bit after scoring only three runs in the first two games against the Orioles.
“It’s been a dogfight with these guys,” Lucroy said. “That’s another first-place team over there. It’s another team that can hit, hit a lot of home runs, especially in this park. It feels good to pull that one out.”
Desmond drove in one run with a groundout and another on a single.
Carlos Beltran (single in the fifth inning) and Rougned Odor (double in the eighth) each added an RBI for Texas.
Baltimore (61-46) saw its three-game winning streak end despite solo homers from Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez and Hyun Soo Kim that cut a four-run deficit to 4-3.
Trumbo leads the major leagues with 31 homers.
Griffin allowed three solo homers to the Orioles but kept them off-balance throughout his 5 2/3 innings with plenty of off-speed stuff. He gave up three runs on five hits and left with a 4-3 lead.
The Rangers then used the four relief pitchers to close out the final 3 1/3 innings.
Wade Miley (7-9 overall, 0-1 with Baltimore) made his first start for the Orioles since being acquired from the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. He struggled at times, allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings.
“Overall it’s not exactly how I wanted to go out and throw, but at the same time, it’s baseball,” Miley said. “You’re never going to do your best every time out, but I was able to make some pitches in some jams and get out of some stuff.”
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the second when Lucroy hit a one-out solo shot to left-center off Miley.
In the third, Delino DeShields led off with a double, and two outs later, he scored on a Desmond groundout.
Texas added two more runs in the fifth. Desmond got an RBI single on a soft grounder that first baseman Chris Davis appeared to lose momentarily with Shin-Soo Choo running in front of him. The ball then rolled into right and DeShields scored.
Beltran followed with a bloop to short right that second baseman Jonathan Schoop couldn’t catch with his back to the plate. The ball fell in, and Choo scored as the Rangers took a 4-0 lead.
Baltimore quickly cut the margin in half as Trumbo and Alvarez started the bottom of that inning with back-to-back homers. It was the 12th time this season the Orioles hit consecutive home runs.
Baltimore could not come all the way back, but manager Buck Showalter still liked how his pitchers fared in the series. The Orioles yielded just eight runs in three games.
“I was impressed with how well our guys pitched against them cause that’s a tough lineup to go through and stay engaged in the game,” Showalter said. “We did for three games. That’s the type of thing we’re going to have be able to do to get where we want to go.”
