Orioles score early and late, edge Rangers 3-2

After losing the first two games of their home series against the Texas RangersTHE Baltimore Orioles scored early and late on Sunday to emerge with a 3-2 win

Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish pitched 6 2/3 innings, limiting Texas to one run on four hits with four strikeouts. Reliever Danny Coulombe (2-1) picked up the win despite just one out.

In his second career start, Cody Bradford of Texas rode through a tough first inning, allowing two runs before settling in to keep the Rangers close in five innings. Bradford struck out five batters with five hits and a walk

After the Rangers tied the score, Cole Ragans (2-2) took the loss for Texas when Austin Hays hit an RBI single – his second of the game – to restore the lead to the Texas Orioles at the bottom of the eighth

Bright Baltimore sunshine led to a poorly played fly ball in the first inning by Rangers second baseman Corey Seager. The ball landed in the shallow center field, putting Orioles lead off batter Cedric Mullins at first base. Bradford then gave up back-to-back singles

The second single, from Hays’ bat, led to Mullins for a 1-0 lead at Baltimore. A Ryan Mountcastle sacrificial fly added to the Orioles‘ advantage

Bradford replied with four scoreless innings, but the Texas squad struggled at the plate. Bradish held the Rangers only one hit – Adolis Garcia’s second inning single – in the first five innings and he has walked just one in that span

But Texas, the major league leader in run production with 6.33 ppg, broke through with a pair of hits in the sixth. Marcus Semien followed Robbie Grossman’s first single with a double, scoring Grossman from the first for the Rangers‘ first run. RBI double extended Semien’s hitting streak to 17 games

In the eight, Grossman again started with a base hit. With two outs and pinch runner Bubba Thompson at 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 struggled in the eighth, as Mullins walked and Adley Rutschman picked. With runners on the corners, he Ragans was replaced by right-hander Joe Barlow, who gave the single go-ahead to Hays — the first batter he faced.

Felix Bautista capped Baltimore’s victory by retiring the team in the ninth, earning his 13th save of the season.

–Field-Level Media