Bundy takes tough-luck loss as Texas wins again (quotes added)

ARLINGTON, Texas - After the Texas Rangers had bashed Orioles starting pitching two nights in a row, right-hander Dylan Bundy had a strong outing tonight against the recently hot Rangers bats. But it didn't lead to an Orioles victory.

Joey Gallo's two-run homer in the fourth provided enough offense tonight as Texas beat the Orioles 3-1 behind Mike Minor at Globe Life Park.

Minor went seven innings, allowing four hits and one run with no walks and six strikeouts. He improved to 8-6 with an ERA of 4.53 after an 86-pitch night. Minor had allowed six runs to the Orioles in 2 2/3 on July 15 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles fall to 33-78 and 0-3 in this series. They are 13-43 on the road and have lost 13 of their past 14 games away from Oriole Park. The Rangers improved to 49-63 and have won seven of their last eight games.

The game did feature the 1,000th career hit by the Orioles' Mark Trumbo. The line single to center drove in the lone O's run in the top of the seventh. Trumbo became the 31st active player with at least 1,000 hits and 200 homers. He has had 361 of those hits with the Orioles. His single scored Adam Jones, who singled and moved up on a groundout. That pulled the Orioles within 2-1.

The scoreless tie was broken by Gallo with another homer in the last of the fourth as Texas took a 2-0 lead on Bundy. Adrian Beltre led off the inning and reached second on a throwing error by third baseman Renato Nuñez. Then Gallo blasted a 1-2 fastball out to right for his 29th homer. It was his third in three games in this series. Gallo's blast had an exit velocity of 113.7 mph and traveled 402 feet.

For the Rangers it was their seventh homer in this series. For Gallo, he now has 11 homers and 23 RBIs over his past 26 games. He tied his career high with a homer in three straight games.

The scores after four innings in this series have been 13-1, 8-0 and 2-0. That is a 23-1 run scoring advantage by the Rangers to start these three games.

Bundy took a tough loss to fall 7-10 with an ERA of 4.38. He gave up two runs (one earned) and seven hits over six innings on 104 pitches. The Orioles are now 8-13 in his 21 starts for the season. Bundy fared much better than starters Andrew Cashner and David Hess. They had combined to allow 17 runs in five innings on Thursday and Friday nights.

Texas got a big insurance run when Rougned Odor homered off Paul Fry in the eighth for a 3-1 lead. He tied his career-high by homering in his third straight game. In this series, Odor is 5-for-9 with three homers, six runs, six walks and eight RBIs.

In Sunday's series finale, Orioles right-hander Yefry Ramírez (1-4, 4.59 ERA) will face right-hander Drew Hutchison. The Rangers agreed to terms with Hutchison tonight. Sunday will be Hutchison's first big league start since Sept. 10, 2016.

Postgame quotes

Trumbo on his 1,000th hit: "That is pretty cool. I actually like this one a little bit more than some of the other things I've done. Unfortunate that it didn't contribute to a win tonight, but it's pretty special to me."

Trumbo feels the dust has settled a bit after the trades: "I think we've been playing good ball, other than obviously these past three games. Some of the younger guys are doing some really nice things. See some really positive things with the bats especially. Some of our new relievers look like they've got some pretty big arms, so I don't think it's all that difficult. I think that we're making some progress and showing some improvement. Obviously, I think most moves are going to be done. If anything else comes up we'll deal with it. I think we're going to have to be a little more consistent to win these games, but especially with the bats, I'm seeing some improvement. Post-All-Star break, we've been one of the better offenses and I'd like to keep that up."

Bundy was asked if he's happy with his outing?: "No, I got the loss. Not happy about it at all. But it was a little bit better. Only left one ball over the plate instead of three, it seems like the last two outings. Just trying to execute pitches one pitch at a time."

Bundy on the homer by Gallo: "Trying to go fastball up and in and it was fastball middle-middle. Ran back over the plate and he was able to get barrel on it."

Manager Buck Showalter on the pitching led by Bundy: "Good, good. Another start that our starting pitcher deserved to win the game. We've had a lot of those. That's why I've been saying that the loss column for a starting pitcher is very deceiving, especially in a year like this. Dylan was really good. He was solid, good to see him. A lot better command. Mychal Givens, we've been waiting for Mike to kind of get back on the horse a little bit. That was a good sign. Fry was a pitch away from having a good outing, but that's the margin you have up here. There's a fine line for it. The defensive lapses have hurt us, too."

Showalter on Trumbo's milestone: "It's a reminder of how consistent Mark's been through his career, 1,000 hits reminds you. A really consistent human being and a consistent player. I thought that was a nice moment. It's a big milestone."

Showalter on the Nuñez error before Gallo's homer: "Just a routine play that he threw away. Sometime, you can have too much time, I guess. The team came back. Beck made a big play, covering third. Trey was alert there. That was a good play to see. We're a lot crisper. We talked a little bit before the game with our position players about the crispness and making sure we don't get sloppy. It's called ball security. We've got some young players that are trying to grow a little bit."