Texas Rangers

New-look Rangers set to battle Orioles

Published Aug. 2, 2016 12:38 a.m. ET

foxsports

BALTIMORE -- After the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles were busy at the trade deadline, the two first-place teams begin a three-game series Tuesday at Camden Yards.

Baltimore, the American League East leader, found the starting pitcher it sought, obtaining left-hander Wade Miley (7-8. 4.98 ERA) from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor league pitcher Angel Miranda on Sunday night. On Monday, the team re-acquired former Orioles infielder/outfielder Steve Pearce (.309, 10 homers, 29 RBIs) from the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league catcher Jonah Heim.

The Rangers got outfielder/designated hitter Carlos Beltran (.309, 22 homers, 64 RBIs) from the Yankees in exchange for minor league pitchers Nick Green, Erik Swanson and Dillon Tate, plus cash. Later on Monday, Texas acquired catcher Jonathan Lucroy (.299, 13 homers, 50 RBIs) plus reliever Jeremy Jeffress (2-2, 2.22 ERA, 27 saves) from Milwaukee in a deal for two minor-leaguers, outfielder Lewis Brinson and right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz.

Brinson and Ortiz are former first-round picks and are regarded as top prospects.

For Baltimore (59-45), the Miley deal should help the team's inconsistent rotation, a problem area all year long. Texas (62-44) added three solid major league players who will make an already very strong team that much better.

The Orioles come into the series after a big win in Toronto on Sunday. Baltimore scored four in the 12th inning for a 6-2 victory. Jonathan Schoop (tiebreaking single) and Adam Jones (three-run homer) had the big hits in the 12th inning.

Texas enters its only trip to Baltimore this season after sweeping a four-game series against the slumping World Series champion Kansas City Royals.

Mitch Moreland played a big part in the Rangers' recent improvement. He has seven homers since the All-Star break -- four in the Kansas City series -- and he earned American League Player of the Week honors for last week.

"I'm trying to go up there and have good at-bats," Moreland said. "It definitely worked out well this series for me. And not just me, we all had a lot of big hits in this series. It was a good run for us, and hopefully it can carry over after the off day."

The Rangers will start right-hander Yu Darvish (2-2, 3.09 ERA) on Tuesday, making his way back from injuries. In three starts since his second disabled-list stint of the season, he is 0-2 with a 3.31 ERA.

Darvish hasn't gone past six innings in any of his seven starts this year, but he told the Dallas Morning News he is ready to throw more than 100 pitches against the Orioles. He threw 90, 91 and 93 pitches in his three latest appearances.

Baltimore counters with rookie right-hander Dylan Bundy (3-3, 3.46 ERA). He is slowly becoming a part of the rotation, and this will be his fourth start.

Bundy has improved in each outing, and he took a no-hitter into the sixth last week against the Colorado Rockies before allowing three runs on two homers in that inning. He wound up allowing just the three runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings -- with eight strikeouts and just one walk.

The Orioles desperately need consistency from their starting pitchers, and if Bundy keeps developing, it would fill a huge hole for the team.

"Dylan was really good. Solid," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Got to get into another inning that he hadn't been into, got to throw a couple more pitches than he'd thrown. He was good. Just elevated a couple changeups. He was the reason we were in that game. Impressive."