Baltimore will now face the New York Yankees in the ALDS
Joe Saunders pitched into the sixth inning allowing one run, striking out four and walking one to lead Baltimore to a 5-1 victory over the defending American League champions Texas Rangers. The Orioles acquired Saunders from Arizona in an effort to upgrade their starting rotation in late August. Yu Darvish pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing three runs, two earned, and struck out seven for the Rangers. He did not walk a batter.
Each team scored in the first inning. J.J. Hardy singled to center to score Nate McClouth for Baltimore, and Josh Hamilton hit into a double play in the bottom half of the inning to score in Kinsler for Texas. Baltimore would add runs in the sixth inning on an Adam Jones sacrifice fly, and in the seventh when McLouth singled to shallow left, scoring Robert Andino. The score remained 3-1 until the ninth inning when Baltimore tacked on two more runs.
Jim Thome walked to begin the inning. Andino doubled and Thome moved to third base. Manny Machado then singled to left to score Lew Ford who was running for Thome. McClouth then hit a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Andino to make it 5-1. Jim Johnson pitched a somewhat shaky ninth-inning for the Orioles to secure the victory.
Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Nelson Cruz and Michael Young each had two hits for the Rangers.
