BALTIMORE _ The Orioles treated Texas Rangers ace Cole Hamels rudely in the first inning Wednesday night, and that was all it would take to score a 3-2 victory to move to the brink of a three-game sweep of the American League West leaders at Camden Yards.
Hamels, who came into the game with an impressive 12-2 record and 2.84 ERA, was facing an offense that has not been producing up to its potential since the All-Star break. But the Orioles (61-45) broke through against a premier starter for the second night in a row after beating right-hander Yu Darvish on Tuesday.
They scored three times in the first inning and took a lead they would not relinquish on a two-out, two-run single by Matt Wieters.
Perhaps more importantly, Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman shook off a couple of rough early innings to bounce back from his disappointing performance against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre last weekend.
Gausman (3-8) gave up three homers in the first inning against the Jays and would surrender another one in the first inning Wednesday night. He also gave up a run in the second inning before settling down to work through the seventh and earn his third victory of the season.
Hamels also pulled it together quickly and was overpowering from the second inning until he was replaced by reliever Matt Bush in the eighth. Hamels gave up just one more hit after the first inning, but took only his third loss since Aug. 7, 2015.
The Orioles finished with just four hits.
Darren O'Day took over for Gausman in the eighth and pitched a perfect inning after pitching the final 11/3 innings to get the save in Tuesday night's game. Zach Britton came on to pitch the ninth and allowed a one-out walk to Rougned Odor. But Wieters pounced on a pitch that bounced away from the plate and made a perfect throw to second base to get Odor and take the potential tying run off base.
Britton went on to get the final out and record his American League-leading 33rd save in 33 opportunities.
The series concludes Thursday, when newly acquired left-hander Wade Miley takes the mound against Rangers right-hander A.J. Griffin.
