Jimenez with eight strong innings, Pearce homers twice in win over Saunders, Rangers

Joe Saunders entered his start tonight with a career 7-0 mark and 3.98 ERA in 10 starts against the Orioles. That was the most wins all-time without a loss against Baltimore. But Steve Pearce hit two of the Orioles' four homers off Saunders and Ubaldo Jimenez gave up just one unearned run over eight innings as the Orioles beat Texas 7-1 in the opener of a four-game series. They did pin a loss on their former teammate tonight. The Orioles improved to 4-4 on this homestand and to 43-39 for the season. They moved to one game out of first with Toronto idle tonight. Saunders got rocked for nine hits and seven runs over five innings in falling to 0-5 with an ERA of 6.13 on the year. Jimenez was outstanding. His eight-inning outing was his season-high as he allowed just a fifth-inning run on four hits. A two-out throwing error by Chris Davis playing third base allowed a run to score that inning for the Rangers. Davis was at third as Manny Machado began serving his five-game suspension. Jimenez allowed two earned runs or less for the fifth time in seven starts and threw 116 pitches. He is now 3-8 with an ERA of 4.31 and picked up his first win since May 8. He had been 0-4 over his previous nine starts. After back-to-back short outings by O's starters, Jimenez provided his team with a big lift tonight. He also won his first game at Camden Yards. He had entered with a home record of 0-6 and 6.28 ERA over eight starts. Pearce hit two-run homers in the first and fourth off Saunders. Adam Jones added a solo shot in the first and J.J. Hardy hit his second, a solo blast in the second inning. The O's opened a 6-0 lead after the fourth inning. For Pearce, who had been 3-for-17 over his last four games, this was his first career multi-homer game. He now has nine homers and 25 RBIs. The Orioles have been on a homer barrage lately. They have hit 10 over the last four games and 22 in their last 10 contests. They have seven multi-homer games in that 10-game stretch. The four homers tonight tied the O's season-high. The Orioles are now 5-12 in Jimenez's 17 starts, but have now won two in a row. The Orioles have scored 27 runs in beating Texas in three of four matchups this year. The Rangers fall to 37-48 with their 11th loss in 14 games.