ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - A trifecta for Joey Gallo and Rougned Odor backed an efficient seven innings by Mike Minor as the Texas Rangers won a close game after a pair of lopsided wins.
Gallo and Odor both homered for the third straight game, this time in a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night after the Rangers had scored a combined 28 runs to win each of the first two games in the series by at least eight runs.
“Both of them are swinging the bat very well, seeing the baseball very well,” manager Jeff Banister said, adding that Odor has been patient at the plate and Gallo has been aggressive in the zone.
Gallo hit a scorching liner into the right field seats right after Adrian Beltre started the fourth by reaching on a throwing error by third baseman Renato Nunez. His 29th homer of the season put the Rangers up 2-0 against Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy (7-10).
“Getting some pitches to drive, and when he does, he drives them out of the ballpark,” Banister said.
“Joey’s been really good at the plate, too, been really focused,” said Odor, who went deep in the eighth with a towering 445-foot solo shot beyond the Rangers bullpen in right-center for his 13th homer.
Minor (8-6) threw 63 of his 86 pitches for strikes over seven innings. A full-time reliever last season for Kansas City after missing two whole seasons because of left shoulder surgery, the lefty struck out six without a walk while allowing one run and four hits. He is 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA his last three starts.
“We’ve just kind of mixed it up, all four pitches, instead of two-pitch mix. I threw more curveballs, more changeups in and out, mixed it up pretty well,” Minor said. “I’m getting better with my pitches every week.”
Bundy struck out six and walked two in his six innings. He has allowed 27 homers this season, one more than Kansas City’s Jakob Junis for the most in the majors.
“I’m not happy about it at all, but it was a little bit better,” Bundy said. “I only left one ball over the plate instead of three it seems like the past two outings.”
WITH THE SAVE
Jose Leclerc, the expected closer after Keone Kela was traded to Pittsburgh earlier this week, worked a perfect ninth for his first save in five chances.
SHORT HOPS
Orioles DH Mark Trumbo’s RBI single in the seventh was his 1,000th career hit . He is the 31st active player with at least 1,000 hits and 200 homers (214). … Texas SS Elvis Andrus extended the longest active hitting streak in the majors to 15 games with his double in the first. … Texas has won seven of eight overall.
HONORING VLAD
Vladimir Guerrero, whose only season with the Rangers was for their first World Series in 2010, was honored in a pregame ceremony after his induction last weekend into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Guerrero threw the ceremonial first pitch to Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, the former Rangers catcher inducted into the Hall of Fame last year.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: OF Craig Gentry, out since late June with a left rib fracture, could start a rehab assignment early next week. Showalter said Gentry is ahead of INF Steve Wilkerson (oblique), who initially was also set to start rehab last week. “I don’t know if I’d call it a setback,” Showalter said. “We just don’t want to push it and say well, here’s the schedule. Let’s see what the players’ bodies are telling us.”
Rangers: CF Delino DeShields is on MLB’s seven-day concussion disabled list. The Rangers announced the move Saturday, more than three weeks after DeShields banged the back of his head when trying to make a sliding catch in Boston. He had been scratched from Friday’s lineup because of headaches.
UP NEXT
Right-hander Drew Hutchison will start the series finale for the Rangers a day after agreeing to a major league contract. The Rangers announced his signing in the eighth inning of Saturday night’s game. It will be his first big league start since 2016 with Pittsburgh. He began this season in the Phillies bullpen but was designated for assignment May 31. He rejected an outright assignment, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers and was with Triple-A Oklahoma City before requesting and being granted his release last Tuesday.
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