Texas Rangers hit four more homers to beat the Orioles 8-6

On Sunday, two Orioles starting pitchers led their team to back-to-back shutout victories in one day. But in the two games since, Texas Rangers hitters have teed off on O's starters for eight homers in two nights.

Texas hit four total homers tonight in an 8-6 win over the Orioles to take the first two games of the series. The O's have dropped two in a row since winning 18 of 23 games.

The loss overshadows a two-homer, four-RBI night for Chris Davis, who hit two-run homers in the first and third innings off Texas starter Colby Lewis. Davis hit homers No. 17 and 18 for his second multi-homer game of the year and the ninth of his career. The O's have seven multi-homer games this season.

Miguel Gonzalez allowed a season-high six runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. He gave up three homers to fall to 6-5 with an ERA of 4.04. O's starters Bud Norris and Gonzalez have combined to pitch 10 1/3 innings in this series so far, allowing 17 hits, 11 runs and eight home runs.

For Gonzalez, in two starts since coming off the disabled list with a strained right groin, he has pitched 9 1/3 innings and given up 16 hits, 10 runs and four home runs.

Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer for Texas - his third in two nights - to tie the game 2-2 in the second. Later, with the game tied 4-4 in the fifth, the Rangers got solo shots from Robinson Chirinos and Shin-Soo Choo.

Manny Machado's 16th homer made it a 6-5 Texas lead in the fifth and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. But Moreland hit another two-run homer, this one off Chaz Roe in the eighth for an 8-5 lead. The Orioles pulled within two runs in the last of the ninth on a Travis Snider RBI single, but Shawn Tolleson fanned Ryan Flaherty to end it and pick up his 11th save.

Moreland is 4-for-8 in this series, and all four hits are homers. He has six homers his last six games and seven RBIs in this series. This was his seventh multi-homer game and second in the series.

The Orioles fall to 41-36 and to 25-15 at home. Texas had lost 11 of its last 12 games against the Orioles until winning the past two nights. The Rangers have won 25 of 41 games to improve to 40-38 on the year.

On Wednesday night, Wei-Yin Chen (3-4, 2.90 ERA) will try to slow down the Rangers when he pitches against right-hander Nick Martinez (5-3, 3.39 ERA) at 7:05 p.m.