ARLINGTON, Texas - Bud Norris said his right forearm is "pretty sore" tonight after he was nailed by a Mitch Moreland comebacker in the fifth inning. Whether he can make his next start is up in the air.
"You never want to get smoked by a comebacker, but the trainers will look at it the next couple days and get rid of the swelling as best I can," Norris said following the Orioles' 6-5 win over the Rangers.
"I don't know. I've really got to see how it is tomorrow. The swelling is really going to come tomorrow, so talking to Richie (Bancells), he was like 'Let's put some ice on it. Let's get a compression sleeve on it and we'll monitor the swelling the next couple days.'
"You don't know where you want to hit, but I guess the forearm. Like I said, I got some muscle there, I can flex this. You never want to get hit there, but it's part of the game, as well."
Adrian Beltre hit a game-tying three-run homer off Norris after the right-hander took a few warmup tosses.
"He's on fire," Norris said. "He's obviously one of the best hitters in the game. I obviously wanted to get that last out there in the fifth and get ahead in the count. He hit both balls to right-center field, and when he's locked in, especially hitting the ball that way, you've got to tip your cap.
"A little tough break, but hats off to our guys for coming back the next inning and putting one run across, which was a winning run."
Beltre fell behind 0-2 in the count before belting the three-run homer.
"He fouled off a couple fastballs and he fouled off the good slider that I threw, so I'm trying to climb the ladder a little bit," Norris said. "He put another good swing on it. He's locked in right now is all you can say right now. I did get (Alex) Rios out, but hats off to the bullpen for getting us out of the last four innings."
Nick Markakis delivered the go-ahead run in the sixth with a two-out single off left-hander Aaron Proeda. Markakis is batting .333 (23-for-69) versus southpaws this season.
Anytime, righty or lefty there, anytime you get the job done you're doing what you're supposed to do," Markakis said. "Against that guy, I've never seen him before. I knew he threw hard. It was one of those situations where you try not to do too much, just put the ball in play, and wherever it ends up it ends up. It ended up finding a hole and scoring a run and obviously it worked out."
As for the Orioles' offensive surge of late, Markakis said, "It's a team game. You need everybody on the team to contribute.
"Everybody's been having good at bats up here. It seems like when they've been throwing it over the plate, we've been putting good swings on it. We've been able to find the hole and find the gap. We don't need to change anything. We need to do exactly what we're doing now and continue what we're doing.
"It's a long road trip and if you come out .500, especially against the teams that we're playing, it's definitely a positive thing. Eleven-day road trips are tough. We're still plugging away. We've still got a lot baseball left and I want to see how it plays out."
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