BALTIMORE (AP) — Andrew Heaney pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, Marcus Semien extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a pivotal two-run single and the Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 Saturday.
Robbie Grossman and Jonah Heim had an RBI single apiece for the Rangers, who have won 10 of 13. Their 33-18 record is best in Rangers history after 51 games, and they passed Baltimore (33-19) for second-best in the majors behind Tampa Bay.
After outscoring the Orioles 17-5 in the first two games of this three-game set, Texas is assured of winning a fifth straight road series for the first time since 2016.
Austin Hays homered for the Orioles, who disappointed a crowd of 37,939 with a lackluster performance at the plate for the second consecutive game. Baltimore failed to score until Hays connected in the seventh and trailed 5-1 before an uprising in the ninth was blunted with the potential tying run at the plate.
Heaney (4-3) extended an impressive stretch that began after he gave up seven runs in his first start of the season, at home against Baltimore. The left-hander has since gone 4-2 with a 2.75 ERA over his last nine starts.
Heaney outpitched Dean Kremer (5-2), who allowed three runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings.
After Grossman hit a run-scoring single in the second and Heim did the same in the fourth, Kremer was lifted in the seventh after issuing a one-out walk. Leody Taveras followed with a double off Bryan Baker, and Semien came through with a two-run single for a 4-0 lead.
ROSTER MOVES
Orioles: Optioned struggling rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez to Triple-A Norfolk and recalled reliever Keegan Akin from the same minor league club. Rodriguez, a 2018 first-round draft pick, has a 7.35 ERA in 10 starts and yielded nine runs (eight earned) in 3 1/3 innings on Friday night. “Not everyone comes up here and sets the world on fire," manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just kind of want to give him a reset.”
Rangers: Placed RHP Dane Dunning on the MLB paternity leave list and recalled LHP Cody Bradford from Triple-A Round Rock.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: Placed INF/OF Ezequiel Duran on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday, with mild right oblique discomfort. Texas also activated OF Travis Jankowski (right hamstring strain) from the IL. ... RHP Jacob deGrom (right elbow inflammation) awaits the next step in his bid to come off the IL after throwing 31 pitches in a bullpen session Friday. “I don't know when he's going to throw again, to be honest with you,” manager Bruce Bochy said.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Dunning was slated to start the series finale Sunday. Now that the right-hander is on paternity leave, Bochy wanted to see how Saturday's game played out before announcing Sunday's starter.
Orioles: RHP Kyle Bradish (2-1, 4.34 ERA) makes his ninth start of the season, the second against Texas.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
