After dropping the first two games of their home series against the Texas Rangers, the Baltimore Orioles scored early and late Sunday to emerge with a 3-2 victory.
Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish tossed 6 2/3 innings, limiting Texas to one run on four hits with four strikeouts. Reliever Danny Coulombe (2-1) earned the win despite recording just one out.
In his second career start, Texas’ Cody Bradford pushed through a challenging first inning, allowing two runs before settling down to keep the Rangers close through five innings. Bradford struck out five batters along with five hits and a walk.
After the Rangers tied the score, Cole Ragans (2-2) took the loss for Texas when Austin Hays smacked an RBI single — his second of the game — to give the lead back to the Orioles in the bottom of the eighth.
The bright sun in Baltimore led to a misplayed first-inning fly ball by Rangers shortstop Corey Seager. The ball landed shallow center field, putting Orioles leadoff hitter Cedric Mullins on first base. Bradford then surrendered consecutive singles.
The second single, off the bat of Hays, drove in Mullins for an early 1-0 Baltimore lead. A sacrifice fly from Ryan Mountcastle added to the Orioles’ advantage.
Bradford countered with four scoreless innings, but Texas’ lineup struggled at the plate. Bradish held the Rangers to a single hit — Adolis Garcia’s second-inning single — through the first five innings and he walked just one in that span.
But Texas, the major league leader in run production at 6.33 runs per game, broke through with a pair of hits in the sixth. Marcus Semien followed Robbie Grossman’s leadoff single with a one-out double, scoring Grossman from first for the Rangers’ first run. The RBI double extended Semien’s hit streak to 17 games.
In the eighth, Grossman again led off with a base hit. With two outs and pinch runner Bubba Thompson on third, Seager drove a double to center field, tying the score at 2-2.
Ragans completed a scoreless seventh for Texas on the mound but ran into trouble in the eighth, as Mullins walked and Adley Rutschman singled. With runners on the corners, Ragans was replaced by right-hander Joe Barlow, who surrendered the go-ahead single to Hays — the first batter he faced.
Felix Bautista closed out the victory for Baltimore by striking out the side in the ninth, earning his 13th save of the season.
–Field Level Media
