Orioles can't hold lead late, fall to Rangers 8-4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Yovani Gallardo watched a lead quickly get away from him and the Baltimore Orioles during the late innings in what's considered a hitters' park.
The Texas Rangers used a six-run seventh inning to rally past the Orioles 8-4 on Saturday night at Globe Life Park. Gallardo allowed the first two hitters to reach base before a bullpen that entered the game ranked second in the American League with a 1.42 ERA allowed four runs — three earned — in two innings.
All of Gallardo's 15 previous starts at the park came last season, when he pitched his only season for the Rangers.
"That's how the ballpark is," said Gallardo, who lives in nearby Fort Worth, Texas, and signed a two-year contract with the Orioles in late February as a free agent. "I felt fine."
That came a night after Baltimore, which leads the majors in home runs and tops the American League in batting, used a nine-run seventh to win 11-5.
"We kind of turned the tables on them," said Mitch Moreland, who hit a go-ahead double off the right-field fence in the big seventh.
It was the first time Gallardo pitched at least six innings in 10 starts — since Aug. 22, 2015. Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said Gallardo looked strong, and he didn't hesitate sending him out for the seventh.
"We just didn't pitch the last nine outs as well as they did," Showalter said.
Keone Kela (1-0), who turned 23 on Saturday, worked a scoreless seventh inning in relief, striking out two and walking one.
A.J. McFarland (0-1) took the loss after retiring only one of the four batters he faced in relief of Gallardo.
The Orioles got solo home runs from Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Chris Davis to increase their major league lead to 23.
Orioles right fielder Mark Trumbo overran Odor's two-run single, allowing Odor to reach third and score the final run on a single by Elvis Andrus.
The Texas rally included a grounder hit by Nomar Mazara toward the hole between first and second. First baseman Davis fielded the ball, but neither he nor the left-handed McFarland could reach the bag in time.
"I was late getting over," McFarland said.
"Mac, his delivery makes him tardy over there a lot," Showalter said.
Machado's first-inning homer into the Baltimore bullpen in left-center gave him hits in all 11 Orioles games this season.
Machado also made two outstanding fielding plays on balls hit by Andrus. In the fourth, he dived toward the foul line to stop a ball and made a strong throw for the out. In the sixth, he started an inning-ending double play.
Jones' shot landed behind Baltimore's bullpen and was measured at 460 feet, the longest of his 197 big-league homers.
Davis' homer was his fifth of the season and tied him for the league lead with Trumbo, Seattle's Robinson Cano and Toronto's Josh Donaldson. That gave Baltimore eight homers in a span of eight innings.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Orioles: RHP Kevin Gausman (shoulder) will have a work day on Sunday that will determine the next step in his rehab. LHP Brian Matusz (back strain) might rejoin the team next weekend.
Rangers: LF Josh Hamilton (knee) will begin a rehab stint next weekend in Arizona with the goal of getting him about 35 at-bats before his scheduled return in mid-May.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Mike Wright (1-0) allowed four earned runs in five innings at Boston in his only previous start. The Orioles scored three runs after he left to give him the win.
Rangers: LHP Derek Holland (1-0) blanked the Mariners over 6 2/3 innings on Tuesday to get the win, giving up only four singles.