Bell hits first 2 big league homers, Lee yields 4 HRs as Orioles beat Rangers 8-6
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.