Ryan Mountcastle and Jorge Mateo homered, Kyle Gibson pitched seven solid innings after his scheduled start got moved up a day and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers 7-2 on Tuesday night.
Mountcastle hit a towering, three-run homer to cap a five-run second inning, and Mateo’s two-run shot in the third chased Andrew Heaney from his Rangers debut. It was the second homer of the season for both hitters.
The Orioles have multiple homers in the first five games of a season for only the second time in team history. They matched the franchise record set by the 1994 team.
Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe homered off Gibson for the Rangers, who have lost eight in a row to Baltimore.
Gibson (2-0) was supposed to start the series finale Wednesday, but pitched a day earlier after Tuesday’s scheduled starter, Tyler Wells, threw five no-hit innings of relief in the series opener. Baltimore’s pitching plans got altered when starter Kyle Bradish took a liner off his right foot and exited with a bruise in the second inning Monday night.
Gibson started on opening day last Thursday and the Orioles had a day off after that, so the right-hander was working on normal rest. He threw 58 of 88 pitches for strikes and finished by striking out the side in the seventh. He fanned five overall without a walk.
Heaney (0-1) was the third starter to make his Rangers debut in the season’s first week, following Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. The lefty, who signed a $25 million, two-year contract in the offseason, allowed seven runs and seven hits over 2 2/3 innings.
Mountcastle’s homer that ricocheted off the right-field foul pole traveled a projected 348 feet — the shortest of any of his 62 career home runs. Mateo went deep for the second night in a row after a two-homer game last season at Globe Life Field, where he’s hit four of his 19 career home runs.
RANGERS RELIEF
Dane Dunning and Taylor Hearn combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings and allowed only one hit after Heaney was pulled. That lowered the ERA for Rangers relievers to an MLB-low 0.83, including a scoreless streak of 18 1/3 innings since opening day.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: Manger Brandon Hyde said before the game that Bradish was sore and “pretty tender” and there was a possibility the right-hander could end up on the injured list. ... INF/DH Gunnar Henderson got a game off after a ball ricocheted off his hand when playing the field Tuesday night.
Rangers: LF Josh Smith had six stitches, a cut inside his mouth and some minor swelling a day after getting hit in the face by a pitch. The Rangers have no immediate plans to put him on the IL.
UP NEXT
The series finale Wednesday, when two-time NL Cy Young Award winner deGrom makes his second start for Rangers since signing a $185 million, five-year contract. The right-hander allowed five runs over 3 2/3 innings in a no-decision against Philadelphia in the season opener.
