BALTIMORE _ Sunday's matchup with the Texas Rangers marked the Orioles' fifth shot to match their 2018 win total since reaching 46 victories in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader with the Tampa Bay Rays. Like the prior four, it ended with them still stuck there.
The Rangers completed a four-game sweep of the Orioles with a 10-4 victory Sunday at Camden Yards, handing Baltimore its fifth losing streak of at least five games in 2019. This one came with the Orioles on the verge of surpassing their number of wins in going a franchise-worst 47-115 in 2018.
Sunday's defeat was similar to Saturday's, with a pitcher who joined the Orioles (46-97) in the middle of the season struggling from the onset. Asher Wojciechowski performed well in his first month with the club, but Sunday's start of four runs in two innings gave him a 7.05 ERA since Aug. 1.
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The Rangers (72-73) struck first on a single by Nick Solak in the first inning, and when Solak came up again with the bases loaded in the second and another run already in, he singled through the right side to score two more.
Unlike Saturday, when the Orioles bullpen settled in behind Aaron Brooks, it offered little relief Sunday. Gabriel Ynoa, the losing pitcher in the game that began the string of defeats, replaced Wojciechowski to start the third and surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced, Ronald Guzman. Rougned Odor, the first batter of the fourth, took Ynoa deep as well, and when Logan Forsythe singled later in the inning, every Rangers batter had at least one hit. Texas finished the game with 20 hits.
In the fifth, Tanner Scott retired three of four batters for the Orioles' first scoreless inning of the day. Dillon Tate started the sixth with two walks and a hit batter, and all three came home in the inning. Texas scored its 10th run off David Hess in the seventh; it was the American League-leading 25th time an opponent has scored in double digits against the Orioles.
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On a day and in a series the Orioles offense struggled against his former team, Hanser Alberto capitalized on his meetings with All-Star left-hander Mike Minor.
Alberto, the major league leader in batting average against lefties, raised that mark to .420 with three singles off Minor, half their hits in the Texas ace's eight innings.
For the season, Alberto is batting .321, doing most of his damage with singles; he entered Sunday's game with the fourth-highest batting average in the AL but the second-lowest slugging percentage among the league's top 29 hitters.
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Renato Nunez provided a jolt of offense in the bottom of the second with a solo shot off Minor.
The home run was 29th of the year, putting him one behind Trey Mancini for the team lead. Another homer by Nunez would make him and Mancini the sixth Orioles tandem in the past nine seasons to each hit 30 home runs while under the age of 30. The franchise had no such pairings before 2011.
Pedro Severino added two RBIs, hitting a run-scoring double in the fifth and walking with the bases loaded in the ninth. Richie Martin reached on a fielder's choice with the bases still full for the final run.
