32-18 - Rangers serve notice by bombarding Baltimore 12-2 in opener
The Texas Rangers scored twelve runs while the Baltimore Orioles scored twice.
It was one thing when the Rangers were doing this against the Kansas Citys and Colorados of the world but these Orioles came into tonight’s contest with the American League’s best second best record where they’ve been suddenly breathing down the neck of a monstrous Tampa Bay Rays team in the scary AL East.
Most recently, before tonight, the O’s had a 14-8 mark in May and were arriving back home fresh off winning two series in a row on the road against division mates New York and Toronto in a division where each of the five teams are above .500.
It remains to be seen — just like with Texas itself — how for real these Orioles are and what their staying power will be in the AL, but this is a series between two rising teams where the Rangers have an opportunity to make a statement that they deserve to be considered as a burgeoning power.
So how did it go in the opening foray? Well, how does another double-digit effort, with another big, round number-inning from the bats to force an early exit for the Orioles starter and burn some innings from the bullpen with the rest of the weekend ahead of us sound?
Sounds pretty good to me. The win puts the Rangers at a season-best 14 games above .500 and equals their best 50 game start in franchise history.
Player of the Game: The Rangers got something from basically everyone tonight including home runs by Leody Taveras, Robbie Grossman, and a grand slam by Corey Seager.
Heck, even Sandy Leon had a hit and scored a run. But even with the offense being loud again, with Zeke Duran and Jonah Heim out of the lineup, Jon Gray’s outing shouldn’t be minimized.
Gray followed up a couple of really solid outings with a line of 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K tonight as he improved to 5-1 on the year while lowering his ERA to 2.81.
Up Next: The Rangers will look to secure the series with LHP Andrew Heaney set to pitch for Texas against RHP Dean Kremer for Baltimore.
The Saturday afternoon first pitch from Oriole Park at Camden Yards is scheduled for 3:05 pm CT and can be viewed via BS Southwest.
Source: Lone Star Ball
