By Zachary McMahon –
The Baltimore Orioles hosted the defending champion Texas Rangers on Saturday night in Game 3 of the four-game series. So far the Orioles have taken the first two games with a blowout on Thursday with a score of 11-2, and a close match on Friday with the score of 2-1.
Cade Povich got the start for the O’s pitching five innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs, no walks, and struck out three batters. Ryan O’Hearn took over first base, to replace Ryan Mountcastle, who did not start in the game, and Heston Kjerstad batted in the DH spot for the Orioles.
Adley Rutschmann played at catcher after missing Friday’s game with a finger injury. Second baseman Jordan Westburg also returned to the lineup after missing Friday’s game with a sore knee. Meanwhile, Austin Hays missed his fourth straight game after hurting his knee on the warning track against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.
Povich would however allow a homer early in the game, as just the second batter of the game, Corey Seager hit a solo shot to right field to make it 1-0. Fortunately for the Orioles, Anthony Santander would tie the game back up with a solo homer of his own in the second.
Former National Derek Hill hit a solo homer of his own for the Rangers to take back the lead 2-1 in the fifth inning. That was Hill’s first homer since 2022 with the Detroit Tigers, and his fifth in 299 plate appearances.
The big highlight of the game came in the bottom half of the fifth when Kjerstad hit his first grand slam in the major leagues. Gunnar Henderson doubled, and then both O’Hearn and Santander walked to make it loaded, and all came to score along with Kjerstad for the slam.
Also in the fifth, Seager got hit by Povich, and had to leave the game with a wrist injury where he had to be pinch run by Davis Wendzel, who went to third base, and then Josh Smith moved over to shortstop for the Rangers.
The Orioles would never lose the lead despite the Rangers hitting two more home runs from Brandon Lowe and Adolis Garcia. An insurance run came off the bat of Santander when he hit a ground rule double that brought Adley Rutchmann home in the seventh.
The Orioles take their third game of the series as they win 6-5 over the Rangers. The Orioles win their fourth straight game overall, and they won their first series when they took the final two games of a three-day weekday series against the New York Yankees from June 18-20.
Meanwhile, the Rangers have lost six straight games for the second time this season, and have dropped nine straight on the road, and are nine games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2022 season.
The Orioles will try for the four-game sweep of the Rangers on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball with Cole Irvin going on the mound for the O’s.
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