BALTIMORE – Rookie Josh Bell hit his first two major league home runs, part of an unprecedented long-ball barrage against Cliff Lee that carried the Baltimore Orioles past the slumping Texas Rangers 8-6 Saturday.
Ty Wigginton and Luke Scott also connected against Lee, who never before yielded four homers in a game. The left-hander has given up 13 home runs this season — seven against Baltimore.
Lee (10-7) had gone five starts since July 22 without surrendering a homer. He allowed a career-high tying eight runs, 10 hits and a walk in 5 2-3 innings.
It was the first time this season Lee failed to go at least six innings.
Bell began the onslaught with a two-run shot in the third. Wigginton and Scott homered in succession in the fourth, and later in the inning Bell connected with two on for a 7-2 lead.
Bell went 3 for 4, drove in five runs and scored three times. He missed a third homer with a drive to right that hit high off the 7-foot wall.
Bell, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, came in batting .216 with four RBIs in his first 74 major league at-bats.
Josh Hamilton hit his 27th homer and had three RBIs for the Rangers, who have lost five of six and 11 of 15.
Orioles starter Brad Bergesen (5-9) allowed five runs and nine hits in seven innings.
Mike Gonzalez gave up an RBI double to Mitch Moreland in the eighth and Koji Uehara got three outs for his first major league save.
The Orioles improved to 12-7 under manager Buck Showalter, their best 19-game stretch since an identical run in June 2008.
Felix Pie led off the Baltimore third with a single and Lee struck out Craig Tatum before Bell hit an 0-1 pitch over the center-field wall.
Texas pulled even in the fourth. Hamilton led off with a single and scored on a double by Vladimir Guerrero, who came home on a sacrifice fly by Bengie Molina.
Baltimore took control with a five-run fourth and went up 8-3 in the sixth on an RBI single by Julio Lugo.
Hamilton homered with a man on in the seventh. In the bottom half, Texas reliever Scott Feldman left after warming up with a sore right knee; he will receive an MRI on Monday.
Making his major league debut, Texas lefty Michael Kirkman struck out the side in the seventh and got the first out in the eighth.
NOTES: Lee is 2-4 since being acquired in a July 9 trade with Seattle. ... Rangers 3B Michael Young pulled out of a 3-for-19 drought with a three-hit game. ... Texas' David Murphy stole his career-high 10th base of the season. ... Baltimore's Adam Jones went 0 for 4 and is hitless in his last 16 at-bats. ... Baltimore is 6-3 against Texas, clinching the season series for the first time since 2004.
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