Baltimore, MD – Chris Davis and Brian Roberts each cracked solo homers and Miguel Gonzalez spun 6 2/3 strong innings to guide the Baltimore Orioles to a 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
Gonzalez (7-3) scattered four hits and two walks to pick up his first win since June 27.
Nate McLouth added an RBI single and Matt Wieters had two hits and scored a run for the Orioles, who won the final two games to split the four-game series.
Ian Kinsler hit a solo homer to provide the lone run for the Rangers, who had won five of six prior to losing the final two games of this set.
Ross Wolf (1-2) was tagged with the loss after surrendering two runs on three hits -- two homers -- over six frames.
Earlier on Thursday, the Rangers placed All-Star starter Yu Darvish on the 15- day disabled list with a strained trapezius in his right shoulder.
Davis clubbed his 34th homer of the season in the second inning, and Roberts added his solo shot in the third to give the O's an early 2-0 lead.
Kinsler's solo blast in the sixth got the Rangers on the board.
The Rangers put a runner on second with no outs in the eighth inning, but Darren O'day retired the next three hitters in order to preserve the lead.
With two on and two out in the eighth, McLouth belted a single to center field to score Wieters to give Baltimore a 3-1 edge.
Jim Johnson gave up a leadoff single to Adrian Beltre, but got A.J. Pierzynski to ground into a double play. Mitch Moreland followed with a two-out base hit to bring the tying run to the plate, but Jurickson Profar grounded out to end the game. It was Johnson's 31st save of the season.
Game Notes
Davis leads the majors with his 34 home runs ... Of Davis' 103 hits, 60 have gone for extra bases ... The last time Baltimore (51-42) had 51 wins before the All-Star break was 1997 (55-30) ... Beltre extended his hitting streak to 13 games ... Tampa Bay's Matt Moore will replace Darvish in the All-Star Game.
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