O's game blog: Will O's, Rangers battle each other, weather? (O's win 5-2)

If the weather allows this game to get started and also completed, the Orioles will try to complete their first home four-game sweep of Texas since Aug. 6-9, 2004.

As game time approaches, the tarp remains on the field and a light rain is falling. Some fans are in the lower seating bowl and have broken out their umbrellas. Certainly, we will not be starting at 7:05 p.m.

Update: At 7:25 p.m. the grounds crew has come out to take the tarp off the field and the club announced that tonight's game will start at 8 p.m.

The Orioles went 5-2 against the Rangers last year, winning the last five games, and they are 5-1 this year. That adds up to a 10-1 mark in their last 11 games against Texas.

The Orioles have scored 41 runs with a team batting average of .305 against Texas pitching this year. They have a team slugging percentage of .562 and .937 OPS. Adam Jones is 13-for-24 in the season series with two doubles, four homers, 10 RBIs and a 1.663 OPS.

The Orioles have nine doubles and 15 homers in those six games against the Rangers, and eight different Orioles have homered.

The Orioles have scored eight, six, six, seven, eight and six runs against Texas in 2014. They have 21 runs and nine homers in the first three games of this series.

Wei-Yin Chen (7-3, 4.19 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles tonight. He is making his 17th start and 10th at home where he is 3-2 with a 3.93 ERA and five quality starts.

In three career starts versus Texas, Chen is 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA, allowing one run in each of the three games.

Yu Darvish ( 8-4, 2.42 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Rangers although there is a chance they swich to right-hander Scott Baker (0-1, 5.80 ERA).

Note from Frederick: Dylan Bundy's scheduled start tonight for Single-A Frederick at home against Salem has been rained out. Bundy's outing has now been pushed back to tomorrow, when Frederick begins a road trip at Lynchburg at 7:05 p.m.

Bundy last pitched for Frederick in the 2012 season, going 6-3 with a 2.84 ERA in 12 starts. This year in three starts for short-season Single-A Aberdeen, he was 0-1 with an ERA of 0.60. Over 15 innings, the right-hander has allowed 10 hits and one run with three walks and 22 strikeouts.

Chen through three, O's get lead: Coming off the shortest outing of his career, Chen is throwing well so far tonight. In his most recent start he gave up five runs in just 3 1/3 against Tampa Bay.

Tonight, Chen has blanked Texas through three in a game that is 0-0 in the last of the third. Chen has allowed two hits with one walk and two strikeouts and has thrown 40 pitches.

He pitched out of a two-out jam in the third. Shin-Soo Choo walked and Elvis Andrus singled after Chen retired the first two batters. But he got Alex Rios to groundout to end that threat.

The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in last of the third. Nick Hundley led off with a double - his seventh hit over 15 at-bats - and came in to score on a Steve Pearce RBI single to left. After Adam Jones was hit by a pitch, the rally ended when Nelson Cruz lined into an inning-ending double play.

Pearce is 2-for-2 tonight and has 16 RBIs over his last 15 games.

Rangers get lead: Texas leads 2-1 after four and a half innings. In the fourth, Adrian Beltre led off with a single, moved to third on a Chris Gimenez double and scored on Carlos Pena's grounder to second to tie it 1-1.

With one out in the fifth, Choo homered to center. He hit his eighth off an 0-1 Chen 93 mph fastball. Choo has two homers in four career at-bats against Chen and that is the seventh homer allowed by Chen over his past four starts.

Bottom of the order delivers: The Orioles took the lead 3-2 with three doubles in the last of the fifth. Ryan Flaherty led off with a double and scored on Hundley's second two-bagger of the game. Hundley advanced to third and appeared to score on a wild pitch for the lead, but the errant Scott Baker delivery was ruled a foul ball. Moments later, the O's got the lead anyway when Pearce doubled to left.

Pearce stays red hot. He is 3-for-3 tonight with two doubles and two RBIs. The three hits ties his career high. Over his last 15 games, Pearce is 22-for-57 (.386) with eight doubles, six homers and 17 RBIs.

Chen out, Matusz in: Brian Matusz took over for Chen with two lefties due up in the top of the seventh.

Chen tonight provided the Orioles with just their third quality start in the last 11 games. He went six innings allowing six hits and two runs with two walks and four strikeouts, throwing 99 pitches. He is in line for his eighth win if the O's hold the lead.

Chen now has a career ERA of 1.67 in four starts against Texas.

O's take 5-2 lead: Pearce got another hit and the O's added to their lead in a two-run seventh. Pearce singled during the rally to go 4-for-4 on the night - that is a new career high for hits. Jones had a sac fly and Chris Davis an RBI single to end a 1-for-25 stretch as the O's lead grew to 5-2.

It's a final: Zach Britton got the final three outs as the Orioles closed out a 5-2 win over the Rangers. The Orioles improve to a season-high seven games over the .500 mark at 46-39.