Rangers Lose Again
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ARLINGTON, Texas — The Baltimore Orioles on the road are not exactly middle-of-the-road.
And the Texas Rangers are on a rocky road.
Miguel Gonzalez pitched his eighth consecutive quality start and Adam Jones hit his 20th home run as Baltimore beat Texas 7-4 on Saturday. It was Baltimore’s sixth victory in the last seven games and major-league-best 72nd road triumph since 2012.
“Good players. That’s all it is,” manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s not nearly as complicated as people think it is. Good players, good people with good habits and good pitching. You have to pitch well on the road.”
Jim Johnson picked up his 35th save, getting the final three outs in the ninth, an inning after the Rangers’ offense found some life with a three-run eighth.
Gonzalez improved to 8-3, working 6 2/3 innings and giving up one run and eight hits with three strikeouts. He issued no walks.
“He just kept pitching like it was nothing-nothing,” Showalter said. “Where you get in trouble is when you start walking people.”
The Rangers had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the
ninth, but A.J. Pierzynski grounded out to second base.
Seven Orioles had more than one hit in a 17-hit attack, including Brian Roberts, who had a two-run single in the third.
Nate McLouth, Manny Machado, Chris Davis, Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy all had multi-hit games for Baltimore, which moved within 3 1/2 games of the front-running Boston Red Sox in the AL East.
The Rangers didn’t lose any ground despite having lost for the sixth time in seven games, because AL West leader Oakland lost to the Los Angeles Angels.
Ross Wolf (1-3) took the loss for the Rangers. Wolf was pulled in the third and left with the bases loaded. Wolf gave up nine hits and seven runs and recorded just six outs.
“They jumped on him early,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “He made good pitches down; they hit. He made pitches up; they hit it. That’s about it.”
Ian Kinsler had a sacrifice fly for the Rangers, who collected 12 hits but left eight runners on base a night after leaving 10 stranded.
David Murphy, who was 3-for-4, had two RBIs for the Rangers in the eighth. Mitch Moreland had another.
The Orioles, meanwhile, converted seven of 13 runners in scoring position.
The Orioles built a 7-0 lead in the first three innings.
McLouth led off the game with a single and a stolen base before scoring on a single by Jones. Davis scored Nick Markakis with a single as well.
McLouth ended up with a triple in the second when Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz misplayed the ball. McLouth scored on the first of Machado’s two hits.
The Orioles added four runs in the third. Jones hit a 421-foot home run to center field. Henry Urrutia, making his major-league debut, singled in a run with the bases loaded and Brian Roberts added a two-run single.
“I’m happy that my teammates got that run support for me,” Gonzalez said. “Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
