ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Mark Trumbo could have looked around the diamond at his Orioles teammates and wondered, “Who are these guys?”
With veterans Adam Jones and Chris Davis out of the starting lineup, Trumbo alone represented experience on a young, struggling team.
The slugger homered twice and drove in five runs, and Baltimore beat the Texas Rangers 9-6 in a back-and-forth game Sunday to avoid a four-game sweep.
“There’s a few of us guys that have been around a little longer than most,” Trumbo said. “The production comes and goes, but the mindset is the big thing, and I think these guys are doing a good job.”
Entering the series, Trumbo hadn’t gone deep since July 9. He completed the four games 7 for 16 with three homers and nine RBIs as Baltimore totaled 21 runs.
Austin Wynns and Jonathan Villar also homered for the Orioles.
Trumbo singled home a run in the first inning. His two-run homer in the third put Baltimore ahead to stay at 6-5 against starter Drew Hutchison (1-2), who was making his Rangers debut.
“Just pitch execution, poor command, too many balls up in the zone,” Hutchison said. “When you do things like that, those are the results that you’re going to have.”
Both of Trumbo’s homers came with two strikes.
“I’ve been getting to two strikes a lot lately and still getting some hits,” he said. “I hit a changeup (from Hutchison), and I put some good wood on it.”
The teams had scored in every half-inning before that, with the lead changing hands in four of those.
Trumbo left the game after his two-run homer against Matt Moore in the seventh.
“(Trumbo) almost didn’t play today,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter. “His knee’s been a little sore. I noticed running around the bases on the second home run.”
Another difference was Baltimore’s beleaguered bullpen, which allowed only one run and one hit in 7 1/3 innings.
Tanner Scott (2-2), the second of six Orioles pitchers, shut out Texas for 2 1/3 innings, which tied his longest major league outing. He relieved starter Yefry Ramirez with the bases loaded and two outs in the second and struck out Ronald Guzman.
Mychal Givens retired the final four batters for his second save.
Jace Peterson led off the game with a single and scored on Trumbo’s single for a short-lived 1-0 lead.
Ramirez retired the first two Rangers hitters but gave up a triple to Elvis Andrus. After two walks loaded the bases, Robinson Chirinos singled home two runs.
The Orioles regained the lead at 4-2 in the second on a three-run homer by Wynns, the No. 9 batter.
The Rangers scored three runs in the bottom half on Shin-Soo Choo’s sacrifice fly, Andrus’ groundout and a broken-bat single by Joey Gallo for a 5-4 advantage.
Gallo and Rougned Odor homered in each of the first three games of the series, but their streaks were stopped on Sunday.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: Davis didn’t play for a second straight game. Showalter said, “He’s banged up a little bit. We’re going to give him the benefit of another day and the off day Monday.” … Showalter said it’s likely that OF Craig Gentry, who has missed six weeks because of a fractured rib, will begin a rehab assignment Tuesday at Double-A Bowie. … INF Steve Wilkerson (strained left oblique), who hasn’t played since July 1, could go on a rehab assignment Thursday.
UP AND DOWN AGAIN
To make room for Hutchison on the roster, the Rangers optioned RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx to Triple-A Round Rock for the third time this season.
JUST KEEP HITTING
Andrus extended his hitting streak to 16 games, equaling a career best. It’s also the longest current run in the majors.
UP NEXT
Orioles: Begin a three-game series at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Alex Cobb (3-14, 5.83 ERA) will start against Rays newcomer Tyler Glasnow (1-2, 4.27).
Rangers: LHP Martin Perez (2-4, 6.50) pitches Monday as Texas hosts Seattle and LHP Wade LeBlanc (6-2, 3.95) to begin a three-game series.
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