Pearce, Hardy and Jones muscle up (Pearce homers again, O's lead 7-1)

Former Rangers are hitless in three at-bats tonight against left-hander Joe Saunders, with Nelson Cruz grounding out twice and Chris Davis striking out. If only Saunders could face seven more of them. Steve Pearce hit a long two-run homer before Cruz's grounder in the first inning, and Adam Jones homered before Davis struck out. The Orioles led 3-0 only four batters into the game. J.J. Hardy led off the second inning with his second home run of the season. The Orioles led 4-0 only seven batters into the game. Saunders better be careful. Manny Machado might think it's still batting practice and walk back down to the field. Nick Markakis drew a leadoff walk in the first before Pearce unloaded on a 90 mph fastball. Jones also found the left field seats, pulling an 84 mph slider on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Jones now 8-for-23 (.348) with two home runs lifetime against Saunders. Hardy hit an 89 mph fastball from Saunders. His other home run came June 21 in New York. In Ubaldo Jimenez's 16 starts this season, the Orioles have scored two, one, one, five, zero, three, three, one, three, zero, one, two, zero, zero, two and zero runs while he's been pitching. Jimenez has faced the minimum number of batters through two innings because Caleb Joseph threw out Elvis Andrus trying to steal in the first inning. Joseph is 13-for-25 according to baseball-reference.com. Davis made a nice backhanded stop and throw to retire Adrian Beltre leading off the second. Beltre showed bunt on the first pitch and smiled at Davis, who's starting at third base while Machado begins serving his five-game suspension. Shortly before tonight's game, executive vice president Dan Duquette told reporters that outfielder Nolan Reimold hasn't been designated for assignment at this time. Duquette said an official move must come Tuesday. The Orioles currently plan on designating Reimold, according to sources. It's "headed that way," according to one person with knowledge of the situation. However, they're trying to find a way to keep him in the organization. Update: Pearce hit another two-run homer in the fourth to increase the Orioles' lead to 6-0. This is Pearce's first career multi-homer game. The Orioles have hit four home runs tonight to tie their season high set on June 21 in New York. Jimenez has allowed no runs and two hits in four innings, with no walks and five strikeouts. He's thrown 57 pitches, 33 for strikes. After walking 16 batters in 14 innings over three starts, Jimenez has walked two in his last 10 1/3 innings over two starts. Update II: The Rangers finally scored in the top of the fifth on Davis' two-out throwing error after Jimenez walked Leonys Martin and gave up a single to Rougned Odor. But the Orioles got the run back in the bottom half on Caleb Joseph's sacrifice fly. Hardy singled with one out and Jonathan Schoop followed with a double. Joseph picked up his eighth RBI of the season.