O’s beat Rangers 7-6 on a hit batter, 37-44 at midpoint
By TODD KARPOVICH
Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) — Jorge Mateo limped to first base when Matt Moore hit him near the left knee with the bases loaded in the 10th inning, and the Baltimore Orioles reached the season’s halfway point by coming from behind late to beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 Monday.
Rookie Adley Rutschman, who began the day in an 0-for-18 skid, tied the score against Joe Barlow with a two-out RBI double in the ninth that hit off the right-field wall.
Rougned Odor led off the 10th with a bunt single off Moore that advanced automatic runner Austin Hays to third, and Moore intentionally walked Ramón Urías to load the bases. Moore (3-1) then hit Mateo with his next pitch, a 93.5 mph fastball.
“Total team play,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Great bunt. Makes the pitcher come off the mound. Tough play for him. That was huge.”
Mateo bent over in pain for about six seconds. After crossing the plate, Hays accompanied a hobbling Mateo to first along with Cedric Mullins, who was on deck, and Odor.
“We are the kind of group where we are all together,” Odor said. “We are like a family. When you have a team like that, a lot of good things can happen. That’s why we’ve been having those comeback games.”
In the third inning, Mateo had reached on a catcher’s interference call on Meibrys Viloria and scored on Cedric Mullins’ double.
Baltimore got its sixth walkoff win and reached the season’s midpoint at 37-44, a vast improvement from 27-54 at the halfway point last year. The Orioles are 23-20 following a 14-24 start.
Bryan Baker (3-3) struck out two in a hitless 10th for the Orioles, who won despite going 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position
Orioles starter Dean Kremer allowed five runs and eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks over 4 2/3 innings — his shortest outing since his season debut on June 5.
“Huge props to the offense and the bullpen,” Kremer said. “They picked me up big time. To come back like that, pretty good.”
Adolis García’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly pulled the Rangers to 2-1. Texas scored four more times in the inning on Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single and Mitch Garver’s three-run homer.
Mullins cut the gap to 5-3 in the fifth with his seventh homer. The Orioles tied the score in the sixth on an error by Lowe on Jonathan Araúz’s hard grounder that allowed two runs to score.
Marcus Semien’s ninth-inning homer off Jorge López put the Rangers ahead 6-5. Trey Mancini singled leading off the bottom half and Rutschman, who had singled in the second, hit his 12th double in 35 games as Barlow blew a save for the third time in 13 chances.
Texas starter Dane Dunning gave up five runs — three earned — and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
“You can’t take these guys lightly,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “Their bullpen is very good and they have some good arms down there. If you take these guys lightly, they’ll whup. We kind of saw that a little bit last year.”
HOLIDAY AFFAIR
The Orioles hosted their first game on the Fourth of July since 2008 also against Texas. Baltimore won that game 10-4.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Urías was reinstated from the 10-day IL with an oblique injury. He lined out as a pinch hitter in the eighth. INF Richie Martin was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
UP NEXT
Rangers: RHP Spencer Howard will be put on the roster to start Tuesday. He is 0-1 with a 12.15 ERA in one start and two relief appearances this season.
Orioles: RHP Austin Voth (0-1, 7.34 ERA) will make his first career appearance against the Rangers.
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