Digging the longball: Bell homers twice as O's top Texas

The Orioles used a stunning display of power over the third and fourth innings today to beat Texas and Cliff Lee 8-6 in front of 23,041 at Camden Yards. Josh Bell homered twice for his first two Major League homers while Ty Wigginton and Luke Scott went back-to-back for the Orioles, who are 6-1 in their last seven games vs. the AL West leaders. It was a four-homer day for the O's, who can take this series with a win on Sunday afternoon. Here are more notes on Bell and today's power outburst: *Bell had not homered over his first 23 Major League games over 74 at bats. *Bell became the 4th O's rookie to have a multi-homer game the day he hit his first homer. The others were Boog Powell in 1962, Curt Blefary in 1965 and Jim Fuller in 1973. *Bell had a pair of two-homer games at Triple-A this year on April 26 and June 29, both vs. Charlotte. *Bell's two homers came as a right-handed batter. So he now has two Major League homers in 25 at bats from the right side after hitting just one right-handed homer in 80 at bats at Triple-A this year. *The Orioles had hit just one homer over their last five games and just four total over the last nine games until today's outburst. *It's the O's fifth game this year with four or more homers. *The four homers over the third and fourth innings vs. Lee came in a span of just 10 at bats vs. the 2008 AL Cy Young winner. *Lee allowed 8 ER to tie his career high over 5 2/3 innings, which was his shortest outing of the year. *In three starts this year vs. the Orioles, Lee has allowed 27 hits and 15 ER over 22 innings for an ERA of 6.14. He has allowed seven of his 13 homers this year vs. Baltimore. *So he gave up seven homers this year vs. the Orioles over 22 innings and six vs. the rest of baseball in 152 2/3 innings. *This year, Lee has walked 11 batters (two intentional) and allowed 13 home runs. *The O's other two homers came on solo shots that came back-to-back by Ty Wigginton and Luke Scott in the last of the fourth. It was Wigginton's 19th and traveled 442 feet. Scott's 23rd went 422 feet off Lee. By the way, the Orioles are now 6-3 vs. the first-place Rangers and have clinched the season series for the first time since 2004 vs. Texas. Brad Bergesen got the win, despite giving up 5 ER over seven innings. Koji Uehara got the last three outs for the save. The O's improved to 12-7 since Buck Showalter took over and are 10-3 in their last 13 games vs. the AL West. Texas is 13-23 vs. the AL East.