ARLINGTON, Texas – Nate McLouth's two-run home run keyed Baltimore's four-run fifth inning and the Orioles held off the Texas Rangers 5-3 Tuesday night.
Chris Tillman (6-2) gave up three runs on six hits and struck out seven and walked one in 6 2-3 innings before giving way to the Orioles' bullpen, which now has a 1.57 ERA in the last 18 games. Jim Johnson worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his 38th save.
Manny Machado had a run-scoring triple and J.J. Hardy also drove in a run with a double in the fifth against Scott Feldman (6-9).
The Rangers scored two on Geovany Soto's two-run homer in the seventh inning to pull to 5-3 and then put the tying run on base, but Pedro Strop struck out Josh Hamilton on a slider to end the threat.
David Murphy — 10 for 19 with a homer, three doubles and six RBIs in his previous five games — went 1 for 4 including a groundout with a runner on base to end the Rangers' eighth.
Feldman, who won six consecutive decisions in May and June, gave up five runs — four earned and one on a wild pitch — and seven hits in five innings in losing his third in a row.
He struck out four and walked one while ending a string of good performances by Rangers pitchers, who began the day having allowed two runs or fewer in three consecutive games and just four total in the three-game winning streak.
The starting rotation had posted a 2.96 ERA in the previous seven games.
In Baltimore's fifth, Machado's one triple scored Omar Quintanilla, Hardy doubled in Machado with two outs, and McLouth sent Feldman's pitch into the left-field seats for a two-run home run that made it 5-1.
The Orioles took the lead in the first inning by scoring an unearned run with two outs. McLouth walked, stole second and advanced to third on an error when Soto's throw sailed into center field. He scored on Feldman's wild pitch.
The Rangers' Ian Kinsler hit his 14th home run of the season to tie the score on a 1-0 pitch in the third.
NOTES: The Orioles began the day with three of the top 22 qualifiers in ERA as relievers — Pedro Strop (2nd, 1.49), Darren O'Day (17th, 2.49) and Troy Patton (22nd, 2.58). ... Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre, hitting .235 in his previous 30 games, went 2 for 4. . The Orioles have won 12 consecutive one-run games. The franchise has done that on three other occasions, 1964, 1970 and 1979. Baltimore went to the World Series in 1970 and '79 and won 97 games and finished two games back of the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees in '64. ... Rangers reliever Michael Kirkman pitched two scoreless innings toenx his shutout streak to seven innings over his last six appearances. Kirkman has also stranded 11 of the last 13 inherited runners, including three in a game three times.
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