Davis, Roberts lead O's past Rangers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
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
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
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.