Texas hits four homers off Bud Norris to beat O's in series opener

The Orioles gave up three runs total to the Cleveland Indians during a three-game weekend sweep. Tonight, the Texas Rangers hit four home runs off Bud Norris.

Texas beat the Orioles 8-1 at Camden Yards in the opener of a four-game series. The Orioles lost for just the sixth time in 24 games to fall to 41-35.

Texas was 1-11 in its last 12 games against the Orioles until getting this win. The Rangers (39-38) won for just the second time in their last nine games.

Mitch Moreland hit two of the Rangers' homers. His solo shot in the second made it 1-0 and came after a crew chief review ruled it a homer and not a ball that hit off the wall. Moreland was actually thrown out on the play by right fielder Delmon Young, but then got to round the bases after the review. In the fourth, Moreland's two-run homer made it 4-0.

Moreland hit his 11th and 12th homers, producing his sixth career multi-homer game. Texas also got solo homers from Carlos Corporan in the third (No. 3) and Shin-Soo Choo in the fifth (No. 9) to lead 5-0.

The Orioles finally scored in the fifth on an Adam Jones RBI single, but then stranded the bases loaded. Through the fifth tonight, they were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position with seven left on base.

The Rangers held a few mound meetings in the last of the fifth and, for a while, baseball turned into stall ball. Eventually, Wandy Rodriguez did pitch and got out of that big jam. Then Texas turned this one into a rout when Joey Gallo's first career triple scored three in the seventh for an 8-1 lead.

Manny Machado did have another multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a double. He is batting .426 (20-for-47) with seven multi-hit games during an 11-game hitting streak.

Norris allowed nine hits and five runs over six innings, and the four homers he gave up tied his career high. He had given up just 10 all year and four over his previous six starts. Norris falls to 2-7 with an ERA of 6.79.

In the second game of this series on Tuesday night, Miguel Gonzalez (6-4, 3.58 ERA) faces right-hander Colby Lewis (7-3, 4.10 ERA).