Poor start at Texas (it got better in the 8th)

The O's began their four-game series at Texas tonight and it isn't going well so far. They trail 4-0 after three innings. Like last night, the opposing starter is picking up a lot of early strikeouts. Righty Tommy Hunter, who pitched to an ERA of 4.05 at Triple-A, but is 5-0, 1.98 in six Major League starts, has fanned six in three shutout innings. He has allowed a Tejada double and Lugo infield single. Meanwhile, Jeremy Guthrie, who enters tonight with a mark of 0-6, 6.17 over his last seven starts, has allowed four runs in three frames. He gave up three runs in the second when Guthrie and catcher Craig Tatum made throwing errors. Josh Hamilton hit a solo homer, number 22 on the year, in the fourth on an 0-1 pitch. Hamilton now has a 28-game home hitting streak and is batting .416 during that streak. Texas is 50-34 on the year after going 21-6 in June. The Rangers lead the AL West by six games and that is the largest division lead in all of baseball. Update: The O's used an error, a walk, two hit batters and two singles to score three in the top of the 8th to take a 6-4 lead in this game. They had scored one in the 5th and two in the 7th to pull within 4-3 and have scored the last six runs in this game. The unlikely trio of Pie, Tatum and Lugo drove in the runs for the lead.