Chavez Has 4 RBIs In Rangers' 13-4 Win Over O's
ARLINGTON (AP) - Endy Chavez had his first four-RBI game in more than eight years with a long home run and a double in the Texas Rangers' 13-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles and former manager Buck Showalter on Monday night.
Adrian Beltre also homered for the Rangers. Michael Young had a single, double and an RBI triple while David Murphy drove in a pair of runs with three hits.
Chavez snapped a 6-for-39 slide when he pulled a pitch down the right-field line for a two-run homer that broke a 2-all tie in the second, then sliced a two-run double into the left-field corner an inning later. His only other four-RBI game was June 10, 2003, while playing for Montreal at Seattle.
Colby Lewis (8-7) won his third straight decision over his last four starts, allowing three runs on a pair of homers over seven innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked three on the ninth anniversary of his first major league victory.
Orioles starter Chris Jakubauskas (2-2) gave up six runs and seven hits while facing only 13 batters.
The right-hander was done after he walked Josh Hamilton to start the third and Beltre followed with his 16th homer, a shot that just cleared the 14-foot wall in left for a 6-2 lead.
Showalter, who still has a house in the Dallas area where both of his children attend college, managed a game at Rangers Ballpark for the first time since he was fired in Texas after the 2006 season. His four years with the Rangers included a memorable 2004 season when they were in playoff contention until the final week of the regular season.
Just like the Yankees and Diamondbacks did after Showalter managed them, the Rangers made it to the World Series after he was gone. New York and Arizona won the World Series the very next season after he left, while Texas finally won its first AL pennant last year before losing the World Series in five games to San Francisco.
Mark Reynolds homered twice for Baltimore, giving him six in his last five games and 20 for the season. He also had a two-homer game Saturday in Atlanta.
Reynolds put the Orioles up 2-0 with a 407-foot blast in the second after Vladimir Guerrero was hit by a pitch. J.J. Hardy hit a solo shot in the seventh off Lewis before Reynolds went deep against reliever Darren O'Day in the eighth.
The 33-year-old Chavez had been out of the majors since 2009, when he tore the ACL in his right knee while playing for Seattle, before the Rangers purchased his contract May 14 from Triple-A Round Rock to replace injured center fielder Julio Borbon. Chavez signed a minor league deal with Texas before the 2010 season. He is hitting .319 in his 28 games, including a 12-game stretch when he was 21 of 40.
Alfredo Simon, who had been a candidate to start Tuesday night in an unfilled spot, took over after the early exit by Jakubauskas and gave up six runs over 4 1-3 innings. The Orioles likely will call up right-hander Mitch Atkins from Triple-A Norfolk to make his first start in the majors.
Notes: Beltre was waiting to hit in the sixth when he fell on his butt scampering to get out of the way of a bat that slipped out of Hamilton's hands on a swing at the plate and flew toward him. Both were smiling when Hamilton retrieved the bat, then pointed to the actual on-deck circle several feet away from where Beltre was. Hamilton also lost the grip of a bat that ended up in the stands in the third. Nobody was hurt. ... Beltre has hit 13 of his homers at home. ... Jakubauskas is 1-5 with a 9.53 ERA in seven career road starts. ... Baltimore starters have a 6.98 ERA over the last 20 games. ... Lewis has allowed an AL-high 22 homers. ... Reynolds also had two strikeouts, increasing his season total to 86.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
