(Sports Network) - The woeful Baltimore Orioles try to make it two straight wins over the American League West-leading Texas Rangers when the two teams continue their four-game set from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington this evening.
The Orioles snapped a three-game losing streak in the opener of this series on Thursday, as Julio Lugo's RBI single capped an odd three-run rally in the eighth inning that lifted Baltimore to a 6-4 come-from-behind victory. Felix Pie and Scott Moore both hit solo home runs for the Orioles, who won for only the second time in their last eight games.
David Hernandez (4-7) picked up the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings as the O's bullpen as a whole did not allow a run in the final 4 1/3 frames.
"They shut the door and gave us a chance to get back in this one," Baltimore first baseman Ty Wigginton said of his team's bullpen.
Josh Hamilton homered and in the process extended his home hit streak to 28 games for the AL West-leading Rangers, who saw their brief two-game win streak halted.
Hamilton's streak is the second-longest home streak in club history, behind only Al Oliver's 30-game tear in 1981.
"Tonight we didn't get the job done," Rangers manager Ron Washington said afterward. "Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. And tonight we didn't."
Heading to the hill for the Orioles this evening will be 23-year-old lefty Brian Matusz, who will be trying to string consecutive victories together after dropping nine straight decisions. The young hurler picked up his first win since April 18 Sunday in Boston, as he scattered two hits over seven scoreless innings to run his record to 3-9 and lower his earned run average to 4.56.
Matusz was pounded by the Rangers for seven runs in just 2 1/3 innings back on May 20, but is 1-1 in his two starts against them.
Texas, meanwhile, will counter with righty Scott Feldman, who is 5-8 with a 5.51 ERA. Feldman lost his second straight start Sunday in Chicago, as the White Sox reached him for five runs (four earned) and eight hits in six innings.
Feldman was on the winning end of the 13-7 rout of the Orioles back on May 20, and is an impressive 4-0 lifetime against them with a 3.77 ERA in eight games, four of which have been starts.
Texas swept a brief two-game series from the Orioles in Arlington earlier in the year and has won seven of the last 11 overall meetings between the teams.