Beltre belts two HRs to lift Rangers over O's
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Adrian Beltre went 4-for-4 with two homers and five RBI to lead the Texas Rangers over the Baltimore Orioles, 8-4, in the second of a four-game set at Camden Yards.
A.J. Pierzynski added two hits and an RBI and Jurickson Profar and Nelson Cruz each drove in a run for the Rangers, winners in five of their last six.
"We were having trouble driving in runs and all of a sudden Adrian started driving them in and everybody started relaxing," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Now we're putting runs on the board. I hope it can continue."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Martin Perez (3-1) gave up four runs -- two earned -- on six hits over six- plus innings.
Manny Machado hit a solo homer and J.J. Hardy drove in a pair of runs for the Orioles, losers in five of their last six games.
Zach Britton (2-3) was tagged for five runs on eight hits and three walks over five innings to absorb the loss.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Beltre slugged a leadoff homer in the second inning to give the Rangers an early lead. It was the first home run the O's pitching staff had allowed in 35 1/3 innings, their longest stretch since 2007.
The O's took the lead after scoring a run in both the second and third innings. With runners on first and second in the second frame, Brian Roberts laced a base hit to center to score Matt Wieters.
Machado blasted a solo homer with one out in the third to put Baltimore up 2-1.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Texas rallied for four runs in the fifth inning to take a 5-2 lead. With two on and one out, Cruz laced a single to left field to score Ian Kinsler. Beltre followed with his second four-bagger of the game, a three-run shot to left, to give Texas a three-run cushion.
"You know he's a good hitter, and then when you make bad pitches on top of that he's not going to miss them," O's manager Buck Showalter said.
Baltimore answered with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Hardy singled to left field to score Nolan Reimold and Nick Markakis to pull the hosts within a run.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Rangers added two more in the seventh and one in the ninth to put the game out of reach. In the seventh, Profar laced a double to center field to score Leonys Martin. Pierzynski singled three batters later to score Profar.
Beltre's RBI single in the ninth pushed Cruz across to account for the final difference.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Beltre extended his hitting streak to 11 games ... Perez had allowed no more than three earned runs in any of his five starts this season ... Texas scored eight runs in back-to-back games for the second times this season ... Machado has 123 hits this season, the most by a player under 22 years old before the All-Star Break ... The O's are just 3-13 over their last 16 meetings with Texas.