Another Burnes quality start and four-homer game lead Orioles to 11-2 romp over Rangers (updated)

To reach the halfway point of their season tonight, the Orioles also drifted back to last October.

Hosting the Rangers brought inescapable reminders of the Division Series sweep. The abrupt finish after winning 101 games. The deathly silence inside the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field. Manager Brandon Hyde circling the room to offer hugs and to express his gratitude.

The Orioles don’t return to Arlington until the series that follows the break, though some players will arrive early for the All-Star Game. But seeing the Rangers again was like picking at a scab.

Though Hyde hadn’t talked to his players about it and noted how this was a regular season matchup in June, he added, “I think we’re going to remember. That feeling sat with us for a long time.”

Corbin Burnes wasn’t in the rotation for the playoffs. Texas wasn’t a third-place team. Heston Kjerstad was on the roster but didn’t receive an at-bat.

It made a difference tonight. Burnes held the Rangers to one run in seven innings in his first career start against them and Kjerstad had an RBI single and two-run homer by the third in the Orioles’ 11-2 victory before an announced Pride Night crowd of 29,479 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles improved to 51-30 and lead the Yankees by percentage points. They also secured their ninth consecutive winning month, their longest streak with a minimum 10 games played since May 1982-Sept. 1983 (11).

Kjerstad was 4-for-22 without a home run or RBI before tonight in two stints with the Orioles. His 415-foot shot to center field off Jon Gray in the third inning produced his third major league homer and first since Sept. 19.

"Heston's got some power and he showed that tonight," Hyde said. "The ball comes off his bat a little different."

"Just want to stay where I'm at, keep it rolling," Kjerstad said. "What I'm feeling right now I hope to build upon every time I get an opportunity to be in the lineup.

"When I came up earlier I was trying a little bit harder to have success, trying to force it, maybe over-swinging from time to time. Just trying to make something happen when it wasn't a pitch that I normally handle. Probably a little more settled in, a little bit more comfortable."

Cedric Mullins homered for the second time in two nights, following Colton Cowser’s leadoff double in the fourth by dumping a slider onto the flag court for an 8-1 lead.

Gray had a 2.91 ERA and 1.062 WHIP in four career starts against the Orioles before tonight.

The last time that the Rangers saw Mullins, he was going hitless in the Division Series after two trips to the injured list with right adductor groin strains. He entered tonight’s game slashing .378/.404/.644 since June 12, and he followed his home run with a double in the sixth and single in the eighth for his 20^th hit in his last 49 at-bats (.408). He’s back.

Burnes scattered nine hits, walked none and struck out five. He was removed at 88 pitches with the Orioles ahead by eight runs after Adley Rutschman hit his 15^th homer to lead off the bottom of the seventh.

Rutschman did it with a bruised right hand, which he had wrapped later, from being hit by a foul tip.

"I'm sure it's going to be sore," Hyde said. "He got it in kind of a weird spot there on his hand. But he wanted to stay in the game and rewarded with a homer."

Cowser led off the eighth with his 11^th homer to give the Orioles 57 this month to break the franchise June record set in 2016. The total is third-most for June in major league history. It’s also tied with August 2017 for second-most in any calendar month in franchise history.

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The first three Rangers singled off Burnes in the first inning, but Rutschman threw out leadoff hitter Marcus Semien trying to steal. Semien was ruled safe until a challenge reversed the call.

Adolis García led off the top of the fourth with his 15^th home run. Two Rangers reached on infield hits in the fifth but didn’t score, and Burnes retired the side in order on seven pitches in the sixth. He stranded two runners in the seventh after back-to-back one-out singles.

Burnes lowered his ERA to 2.28 and registered his 13^th quality start of the seasohn. He had 10 in a row before allowing four runs in seven innings in Houston.

"What a professional effort," Hyde said.

"Coming in we knew that they were one of the most aggressive teams in the league," Burnes said after tying Grayson Rodriguez for the team lead with nine wins. "They put the ball in play. They don't walk a lot, they don't strike out a lot. We knew it was going to be in front of us. The plan was to make sure the first two pitches were good pitches because we know chances are they're going to be in play."

Burnes induced a season-high 19 swings-and-misses.

"I wasn't trying to miss bats. That's the funny part," he said.

"Just trying to throw pitches in good spots and kind of use their aggressiveness against themselves and get some quick outs. We were able to do that most of the night."

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Gunnar Henderson singled to extend his on-base streak to 34 games, Ryan O’Hearn walked and Kjerstad grounded a single into right field with two outs.

Jordan Westburg followed with a two-run double but slowed as he rounded second base and was out at third.

Henderson singled again to lead off the third, O’Hearn singled and Ryan Mountcastle’s second fly ball to extremely deep left-center field upped the lead to 4-0. Kjerstad provided more padding for Burnes by barreling a changeup.

"Everybody feeds off each other," Kjerstad said. "Everybody gets up there, you want to follow the guy who's in front of you. The dude behind you wants to follow what you do. It's kind of contagious."

Bryan Baker allowed a run in the eighth but the Orioles scored twice in the bottom half on Cowser’s homer and Rutschman’s sacrifice fly off Brock Burke.

The outcome couldn't erase the Division Series sweep but players enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Everybody in this clubhouse was really pumped," Kjerstad said. "I think most of the guys were more focused on just another win to add to the column this year. It's always good when you can show up and have a good game offensively and defensively, and to come out with a win."

“We didn’t really talk about it but it’s kind of burned in our memories from last year," O'Hearn said. "It’s something we definitely don’t want to happen again. It's June, so we've got a long way to go and hopefully we'll get to where we want to be in October and then we'll take it from there.”

The day also included news of six Orioles moving onto Phase 2 of All-Star voting.

"That was really cool," Hyde said. "It's like two-thirds of the positions on the field are All-Star finalists. They're all so well deserving. I hope they get a ton of votes. I hope we send all six."

"When you've got one of the best offenses in baseball, there's going to be a handful of names that should be in the All-Star Game," Burnes said. "Hopefully we've got seven or eight of us running around the All-Star Game. That would be great."

O'Hearn leaped from fourth to second among designated hitters.

"It's incredible," he said. "When you're a kid it's a dream to be a major league All-Star and it seemed unattainable for a long time. Until the last year or so I didn't believe it could actually happen. We're not there yet, but to be a finalist is an honor and something I don't take lightly.

"It was cool to see my name up there near the top (Monday) and get some notoriety and all that, but just, Birdland supporting me and voting for me and all that means a lot. Very cool to have a fan base like the Baltimore Orioles fan base that had my back like that and think I'm worthy of going to the All-Star Game."

* The Orioles head to Seattle after the Rangers series and Dean Kremer is expected back in the rotation.

Kremer was stretched out to 75 pitches today at Triple-A Norfolk and would be available Tuesday on normal rest. He threw 39 in two-thirds of an inning in his previous outing, which necessitated a third start.

“Feel much better about it than the last time he threw,” Hyde said. “I haven’t even talked to Mike (Elias, the Orioles' general manager) or the training staff about it, but it’s nice to see him get to 75 pitches. Definitely on the radar. We’ll see what happens.”

* A scoring change from the June 20 game at Yankee Stadium removed an error on Gleyber Torres in the fifth inning and gave a hit to Westburg. The Orioles reached 20 hits for the 42^nd time in team history and the first since July 6, 2023 in New York.

* Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann made a rehab start with High-A Aberdeen and tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and six strikeouts. He threw 46 pitches, 32 for strikes.

Double-A Bowie’s Seth Johnson lowered his ERA to 2.81 with four scoreless innings. Catcher Samuel Basallo came out of the game with a lower-body contusion, per the Orioles.