Shane Baz struck out nine over eight innings and gave Baltimore everything it could have asked from a starter. It wasn't enough. One swing from Joc Pederson in the sixth turned a quiet night into a Texas win, 2-1.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| TEX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | X | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Pederson went 1-for-4 with a home run and both Rangers RBIs. His blast to right field, measured at 414 feet, came with a runner aboard and settled a game that had been defined by two stingy pitching staffs. It was his 21st home run of the season, part of a year in which he's hitting .252 with 44 RBIs.
Baltimore had struck first. In the second inning, Coby Mayo singled to center to bring home Leody Taveras, who finished the night 2-for-4 with a double, and the Orioles led 1-0. That lead held until the sixth, when Pederson's two-run shot off Baz flipped the score to 2-1 and gave Texas a lead it would not relinquish.
Baz was brilliant otherwise, allowing just three hits and two runs over 8.0 innings with nine strikeouts and one walk, but it was enough to fall to 4-11 on the season, carrying a 3.76 ERA. Nathan Eovaldi started for Texas and worked into the sixth, allowing one run on four hits over 5.1 innings with two strikeouts. The Rangers bullpen, featuring Tyler Alexander picking up the win and Jacob Metz closing it out with his 22nd save, combined for 3.2 scoreless innings.
The win extended Texas's winning streak to three games, improving the Rangers to 58-58. Baltimore dropped to 56-60, its second straight loss. Alexander, who struck out one batter in two-thirds of an inning of relief, sits at 490 career strikeouts, 10 shy of the 500 mark.