Rangers Rout Orioles

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BALTIMORE — Despite his team’s offensive struggles, Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister implored his players to remain confident because they eventually would break out of their slump.

The moment came in the series opener against the first-place Baltimore Orioles.

First baseman Mitch Moreland hit two of Texas’ four home runs, and the Rangers cooled the Orioles with an 8-1 victory Monday night.

Catcher Carlos Corporan and right fielder Shin-Soo Choo also went deep for Texas, which tied a season high for homers in a game. The Rangers snapped Baltimore’s four-game winning streak.

“The production up and down the lineup was special tonight,” Banister said. “It was something that we needed. They put together some really nice at-bats and came away with an 8-1 victory. It was very nice to see.”

Staked with an early lead, Wandy Rodriguez (5-3) kept the Orioles off balance for most of his outing. The left-hander allowed one run on eight hits with two walks and seven strikeouts over five-plus innings.

Moreland improved his season total to 12 homers, tying designated hitter Prince Fielder for the team lead. Choo and third baseman Adrian Beltre each finished with three hits as the Rangers won for just the third time in 10 games.

“For the most part, we were able to create some opportunities,” Moreland said. “It seemed like every

inning we had something going on. That’s the kind of games you want to lead the series off.”

Left fielder Joey Gallo’s first career triple knocked in three runs and increased the Rangers’ lead to 8-1 in the seventh.

Orioles right-hander Bud Norris (2-7) tied a career high by allowing four home runs. Entering the game, he had not allowed more than one homer in any of his previous 10 starts this season. Norris was charged with five runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and a walk over six innings.

“Three of the homers were on breaking balls and one (was on a) changeup,” Norris said. “Just bad pitches. It’s hard to go out there and pitch with just fastballs. I tried to battle through it. I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball a lot better as of late. I feel a lot better coming off my sickness and everything else, really just trying to turn the ship.”

Baltimore lost for just the second time in 12 games at Camden Yards this month.

Norris struggled early and never found a comfort zone.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the second when Moreland hit a deep drive that looked as if it caromed off the right field wall. Moreland was initially ruled out after sliding late into second base. However, a review that took 1 minute, 44 seconds showed the ball cleared the top of the fence for a homer.

A solo shot by Corporan increased the lead to 2-0 in the third.

Moreland’s two-run homer in the fourth provided a 4-0 lead. It was the sixth multi-homer game of Moreland’s career.

An inning later, Norris gave up his fourth homer when Choo led off with a long shot to center.

“He made some mistakes with his breaking ball,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said about Norris. “Gave us six innings. It was a challenge, but kind of kept us from having to do too much in the bullpen, being a little short there, so that was a positive I’ll take out of it. Just inconsistent with his breaking ball. A couple good ones, but he got hurt on the ones he left out there.”

The Orioles finally got on the board in the fifth when they loaded the bases with one out and center fielder Adam Jones singled to cut the margin to 5-1. However, Rodriguez struck out designated hitter Chris Davis and got a popout by right fielder Delmon Young to end the threat.

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