Orioles Complete Season Sweep of Rangers

Texas found no answers for Baltimore, even though the O's traded away a couple of key players.

Texas was swept by Baltimore on Wednesday, as the Orioles defeated the Rangers 6-3 at Globe Life Field.

The Rangers (46-58) have now been swept in three of their last five series, dating back to their series against Seattle before the All-Star break. The Orioles (54-51) not only swept the series, but the season series with the Rangers.

The Rangers are now 5-10 since the break, and even their best starter, Martín Pérez couldn’t stop the bleeding Wednesday despite doing his part.

He tied his season and career high with nine strikeouts. He gave up one run, five hits and three walks in six innings. He left with the game tied at 1-1.

The Orioles did their damage on a beleaguered Rangers bullpen after Pérez left the game.

The Orioles took the lead in the top of the seventh, as the Rangers brought in reliever Matt Moore. He gave up a one-out solo home run to former Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos to make it 2-1 Baltimore.

That lead was brief. Rangers catcher Jonah Heim tied it in the bottom of the seventh with his 13th home run of the season off Orioles reliever Dillon Tate.

The Orioles made it stick in the eighth off Rangers reliever Jose Leclerc. With two outs, Terrin Vavra’s double scored Jorge Mateo to break the tie, and Chirinos followed with a single to score Vavra to make it 4-2.

In the ninth, Baltimore managed two more runs off Rangers reliever Jonathan Hernandez, as Anthony Santander had an RBI double. He later scored on two wild pitches by Hernandez.

For the first time in the series the Rangers didn’t fall behind by multiple runs early. In fact, the Rangers grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from Adolis García, which scored Corey Seager.

But the Orioles tied the game in the top of the second after Ryan McKenna’s solo home run.

The Rangers added a run in the ninth on a Marcus Semien home run, but all it did was extend the game by one at-bat.

The Rangers are expected to start Top 30 prospect Cole Ragans on Thursday against the Chicago White Sox. It will be Ragans’ Major League debut.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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