O's game blog: This time, Joe Saunders pitches against Orioles in Texas

The Orioles on the field, Joe Saunders on the mound and the game is at Texas. The Orioles have a pretty good memory when that happened in October 2012. That night, this happened. Despite very poor numbers pitching in that ballpark, manager Buck Showalter went with Saunders in the American League Wild Card Game that night and the Orioles beat Yu Darvish and the Rangers. Now, Saunders faces the Orioles for Texas. He is 7-0 with an ERA of 4.09 in nine career starts against Baltimore. According to the Rangers' PR department, that is the most all-time wins against the Orioles by any pitcher without a loss. Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6, 4.65) is his mound opponent tonight. Jimenez pitched to an ERA of 6.59 in April, but went 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA in May. In his last start in the month, he gave up just one run in six innings last Thursday at Houston. More O's and Rangers notes: * The O's went 5-2 in the season series last year. They lost the first two but won their last five games against Texas and held the Rangers to nine runs total during those wins. * Jimenez can certainly improve on his pitch efficiency. He is averaging 18.6 pitches per inning and 105 pitches per game. The Orioles are just 2-9 in his 11 starts. * Texas, like the Orioles, is one game over .500 at 29-28. The Rangers just lost two of three at Washington, but went 7-4 on a long road trip and they've won eight of their last 12 games. * The Orioles are looking for their first series win since May 9-11 when they took two of three from Houston at Camden Yards. Since then, they have lost two and tied four series. * The inconsistent O's offense came up with nine runs and 12 hits on Sunday. In the four games before that, they scored nine runs total. In the nine games before that, they scored 55 runs. * O's pitching had a good series at Houston, allowing 10 runs in four games. Orioles starters pitched to an ERA of 1.82. But the O's have now gone 14 games since the last time one of their starters went seven or more innings. * Final note - former Ranger Nelson Cruz has 20 homers for the Orioles to lead the majors. Texas has just 35 homers as a team to rank 14th in the AL.