Cedric Mullins and Ryan Mountcastle both drove in two runs and Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Spenser Watkins worked six strong innings in a 7-2 victory against the Texas Rangers on Monday night in Arlington, Texas.
It was a strong outing for the Orioles just hours after the traded veteran Trey Mancini to the Houston Astros.
The Rangers, appearing in their first home game since the All-Star break, never threatened against Watkins until Corey Seager’s one-out home run in the sixth. Texas won three of its previous four games to complete a 5-6 road trip before its dud on Monday.
Watkins (4-1), who won last month against Texas when he allowed just one run in 6 2/3 innings, ended up yielding five hits without a walk while striking out five. He has won four straight decisions and hasn’t suffered a loss since May 11 at St. Louis, though he spent most of June with Triple-A Norfolk.
The Orioles avoided what would have been their first three-game losing streak since dropping four in a row from June 29-July 2.
Rangers starter Jon Gray (7-6) lasted just 1 1/3 innings. He was charged with four runs, three of them earned, on four hits and a walk. He struck out three.
Mullins led off the game with his ninth home run of the season. He also drove in the game’s second run with a second-inning single.
Mountcastle’s run production came with a second-inning single and a fourth-inning double. Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman and Jorge Mateo also had RBI doubles.
Rutschman, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2019, had his second three-hit game in the majors by going 3-for-4 to lead the Orioles’ 12-hit attack.
It was 6-0 by the time Seager smashed his 24th home run of the season. Nick Solak hit a pinch-hit home run in the eighth off Orioles reliever Keegan Akin, who posted his second save by working the final three innings.
Nathaniel Lowe had three of Texas’ seven hits.
–Field Level Media
